Crossing The Line
by Amelia Bedelia
Summary: Vampires have fallen in love. Werewolves have fallen in love. But never has there been a story where they have fallen in love with each other – until now. Jacob/Kate, Bella/Edward. Pre-Breaking Dawn
1. The Visitors

**Author's Note: Here's my new Twilight story that I mentioned I would write! I've been writing a TON for this lately, so hopefully the chapters will be put up frequently! Also, thanks to my good friend Liz for helping me with the editing and looking out for plot holes! She definitely caught several small details that I forgot to think about which, in turn, have now improved the story!**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter One: The Visitors**

I yawned without opening my eyes. Then I stretched my feet to the furthermost point of my mattress. I sighed, cuddling into the warm layers of blankets.

"Good morning," I mumbled into my pillow. Then, with my fingers crossed, I asked, "Is it raining?"

There was no response.

Frantically, I opened my eyes and rolled over. The covers on the other side of my bed had been mussed. He was here – Edward had been here – but was now gone.

"Edward?" I whimpered, my eyes darting anxiously around the room. Where had he gone? And why would he just _leave_ like that?

I threw my bed sheets off of my legs, shivering slightly at the chilling sensation – particularly when I knew the chill wasn't coming from Edward's fingers or lips – and I rolled out of bed.

The moment I did, I heard a crinkling noise. I looked down, beneath my feet, and saw that I had stepped on a slip of paper.

I quickly picked up the paper and read the words with eager eyes.

_I needed to speak with Carlisle. Stop by when you wake up._

I didn't need to be told twice. Without the slightest bit of hesitation, I discarded my pajamas and changed into another outfit without bothering to shower. I then galloped down the staircase and entered the kitchen at an alarmingly fast speed.

"Bella?" Charlie was lounging in his recliner in front of the television. "What are you doing up so early on a Saturday morning?"

I stopped dead in my tracks, surprised by the voice. Instead of answering his question, I asked, "What are _you_ doing – weren't you going to go fishing today?"

My dad pointed glumly towards the window. The rain was coming down much harder than the normal drizzle. It was still early morning, but I was _sure_ the sun was supposed to have risen by now. The storm had made everything almost pitch black – impossible to see.

"Sorry about your trip," I apologized quickly. I didn't feel _too_ bad, though; he went fishing every other weekend. One day off wouldn't kill him. I quickly diverted his attention. "Hey, Dad – I'm going to Edward's, alright?"

Charlie lifted an eyebrow. "You _did_ see the weather, didn't you?" he asked, glancing towards the black window once more. "It'll be impossible to drive in, Bella. You should give it an hour – at least wait for the worst of it to blow over."

I shook my head, unwilling to back down. Edward's note had been clear, and I needed to find him immediately. "I'll drive extra slow," I promised my dad, already reaching for my car keys. "Don't worry – I'll be safe."

"Bella," Charlie sternly warned me, briefly looking away from the sports channel. "I really don't think that's a very good idea…"

"Its fine," I quickly brushed him off. I was already standing at the door with the handle turned and ready to be thrown open the moment I finished speaking so that Charlie couldn't talk me out of leaving. "I'll see you later – bye, Dad!" I called, faintly hearing him shout back, "At least take an _umbrella_!"

It was the worst weather that I had ever experienced. The rain came down with such force that I felt as if they were small ice pellets, digging into my skull. I looked at the ground as I ran, half expecting it to be covered with hail, but there was nothing but several inches of standing water.

It took me less than ten seconds to run to my truck. However, by the time I managed to leap into the driver's seat of my old, beat-up vehicle, I was soaked to the bone. I slammed the door closed behind me, instantly muting the sound of rain hitting the pavement. The only noise that could be heard was the dull pounding of rain on the roof of the red truck.

I stuck the car key into the ignition and turned it, listening to the car as it roared to life. Immediately, I turned the heat up to its maximum, silently praising myself for choosing _not_ to shower before I left the house.

I lied to Charlie when I told him I would drive safely. In this weather, I was sure the best speed would be half the normal speed limit, considering you couldn't see further than ten feet in front of you, even with headlights. The letter from Edward, however, seemed to have motivated me to travel a bit more recklessly than was normal for me. I was nearly _at_ the speed limit.

The Cullen's house came into my line of sight. I let out a sigh of relief as I pulled up to their gorgeous home, feeling slightly more relaxed now that I could just see it.

"Bella!"

There was a sharp tapping on my window. I jumped, surprised by the sudden noise, but already knew who it would be. I immediately turned, elated to find Edward looking back at me with his crooked smile.

"Edward!" I called back, pressing my hands to the window and fogging up the glass with my breath. I forgot to shut the engine off in my excitement.

Edward was the one that quickly brought me back to reality. He opened my door, letting the sound of the thunderstorm fill the cab of my truck, and stepped towards the steering wheel. "Let's get inside before you freeze to death," he said, pulling the key out of the car and sticking it into his pocket. Then – without my permission – he quickly pulled me out of the vehicle and lifted me into his arms, running back to the house at top speed as my truck sat in the middle of their driveway, blocking any other car that would have tried to leave.

I had barely walked – or been carried – into the Cullen's home when I was placed back on my feet and immediately wrapped in a large, fluffy towel.

"Thank you," I said, trying to hide my shiver from Edward. He wasn't easily persuaded, however. He just held his icy hand up to my cheek, frowning.

"You're freezing," he stated, pulling his fingers away with a look of disappointment. He started to back away, keeping his hands to himself. "You're not warm at all."

"Brilliant observation," I muttered, smirking up at him. And then, trying to show him how much I didn't care about my temperature, I pressed myself into his chest.

"No, not here," Edward whispered into my ear, gently rubbing my back. My heart skipped a beat. Not here? What did he mean by, "not here"? He was never embarrassed to display his affection for me in front of his family – if that's what he was thinking about. And we were just hugging, weren't we? What was _he_ thinking about?

"Come on," Edward said, gently placing his arm around my shoulders and guiding me to the staircase. "I have something I need to tell you."

My heart rate seemed to pick up. It wasn't the normal effect that his presence had on me – in fact, it was quite the opposite; it made me nervous. His words had sounded so harsh – almost cruel. As if he were preparing for the worst.

Whatever Carlisle and Edward had discussed was, clearly, much more important than I had realized.

"What is it?" I whispered, suddenly feeling very afraid. The last time I had felt this scared was when Edward had gone into head-to-head combat with Victoria a few months ago. I had, since then, had a very nearly perfect summer. The only thing that could have ruined the summer was hearing from Charlie that Jacob had disappeared. Of course he returned, but it wasn't for nearly a month before he did.

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts as they were now directed towards Jake. His departure couldn't have been my fault – I hadn't said a word to Jake the day that he left. I talked to him nearly a week before he disappeared, so it couldn't have been _me_ who caused him to vanish like that.

But I had always harbored some sort of guilt since that day – as if it _was_ my fault.

We reached the top floor and I forced every thought about Jacob out of my head. I hadn't spoken to him all summer, even after he had returned to La Push, and that was fine by me. He loved me, but I loved Edward. It just wouldn't have been fair to Jake to maintain such a close relationship with him when I would have never returned the feelings. We were better off without each other.

While I continued convincing myself that Jake was better off alone, Edward led me over to his bed. He quickly pulled back all of the covers and gestured for me to lie down. I lifted an eyebrow, somewhat surprised – and thrilled – by his actions, but did as he requested.

"Better?" Edward asked, tucking in the several layers of blankets around my shivering form so that I couldn't even move.

I nodded, smiling. "Much."

Edward's eyes seemed to light up; as if he were relieved to hear that I was warm. "Good."

"I'm almost _too_ warm," I said with a theatrical sigh. "If only there was someone that could cool me down…" I trailed off, looking expectantly up at Edward. He just smirked.

"You're such a tease," he muttered, lying beside me on top of the bed sheets. Then he leaned in and gave me a soft kiss. He broke the kiss off much sooner than I had hoped, but he didn't pull too far away, maintaining direct eye contact. "Did that help?"

I did my best to shrug while I was covered in several thick blankets. "It did for now," I answered in a soft voice. "But I'm sure I'll need a few more of those later when I start heating up again."

Edward chuckled. I loved to hear his laugh. It sounded like music to my ears, ringing sweetly in the quiet room. "Such a distraction," he whispered, stroking my wet hair out of my face and behind my ears. And then, cocking his head slightly to the side, he continued speaking with an amused tone. "Not that I _mind_…"

I grinned, feeling my cheeks heat up, but I quickly tried to tuck away these emotions for later. "A distraction?" I asked, eyeing Edward with a questioning look. "What am I distracting you from?"

Edward's bright expression seemed to vanish before my eyes. One minute, he looked like he was the happiest man alive, and the next he was frowning, trying to hide his dark emotions from me. He pulled away, supporting himself with his elbow. "There's something – _important_ – that I need to tell you."

I swallowed, feeling as if all of our happiness had been sucked out of the room by his words. "It's alright," I said, struggling to pull one of my hands out from beneath the bed sheets. I finally managed to wiggle one free and lifted it to Edward's face, slowly rubbing the pad of my thumb across his cheek. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Well – it's the guest list," he confessed. His face was leaning towards mine, but his eyes seemed to be directed elsewhere, almost as if he were trying to avoid my gaze.

"What's wrong?" I asked, frowning. I started to move around inside the large pile of blankets, hoping to sit up, but the weight of the bed sheets – along with Edward's arm wrapped around my waist – seemed to be holding me down. "Did Alice invite too many people or something? That can't be _too_ much of an issue, can it?"

"It's not how many," Edward quickly corrected me, shaking his head. He lifted his hand to his cheek, covering mine with his cool fingers. "It's _who_ she invited."

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "And _who_ did she invite?"

Edward swallowed, clearly having a hard time delivering the bad news. Then, he closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. "The Denali clan."

My stomach, which had been doing a series of flips, stopped immediately. There was nothing wrong with them, was there? The Denali's were friends of the Cullen's – and their diet consisted of animal blood, just like the Cullen's! Was I missing the problem?

"And?" I asked, trying to see if there was more to this explanation. Everything that Edward had done, building up to his big revelation, made this news seem rather anti-climactic, now.

"And what?" Edward asked, his eyes darting back to meet mine. "That's it," he said, leaning forward slightly in an attempt to keep his voice softer, as if that would prevent the rest of the house occupants from overhearing our conversation. "I thought – well, I thought you might have been – "

"Afraid?" I finished his sentence with a small smile. "Edward – I'm in love with a vampire. Do you really think I'd be afraid to hear that a few more are coming to visit?"

Edward's smile covered his entire face, slowly turning into a grin. "That's true," he agreed, nodding. And then his lips curled downward into a slight frown. "But I'm still not sure _why_ they're coming…"

My expression mimicked Edward's. "Alice invited them, didn't she?"

"Only to be polite," Edward muttered, brushing my comment aside. "None of us actually thought they would _accept_."

My look of confusion deepened. "Well, why wouldn't they come – they're friends of your family, aren't they?"

Edward hesitated slightly before nodding his head. "I wouldn't go so far as calling them _friends_ – allies, perhaps. But I don't think we're friends."

"Oh." My gaze dropped to the collar on Edward's shirt, studying the v-shape it made, curling around Edward's neck. "Like – acquaintances?"

"Somewhat," Edward said, nodding. "We just didn't think they would come. I mean – the idea of you and me is just – " He watched me carefully, trying to gauge my reaction before he said anything more. I kept my face blank, urging him to continue with his statement. Finally, he sighed, pressing his lips to my forehead. "They don't understand," he concluded. "A vampire ever falling in love with a human – to _them_ – is absurd. It's one thing for any of them to have a sexual relationship with a human – but getting married? That's just unheard of."

I was slightly stung by his words. I understood that they didn't reflect Edward's feelings on this subject, but I couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed. I already knew how different I was from the Cullen's – it only hurt to be reminded of my inadequacies.

"But you're going to change me," I started to protest, biting down on my bottom lip. "I'll be a vampire," I said. "So it's really not _that_ strange – is it?"

Edward chuckled softly, dipping his head so that his cool skin brushed against my cheek. "To most vampires, you're just food, Bella," Edward whispered, slowly lowering his lips to kiss my ear. I could tell he was only doing this to cheer me up – but I really couldn't care less. "It's strange to them that I can do _this_ to you without killing you," he said, taking his time to kiss his way down to my exposed neck.

I swallowed, hiding the slight moan that I was sure was about to escape from my lips. I inhaled a shaky breath and replied. "It's surprising that _anyone_ can do this to me," I gasped, closing my eyes as Edward's lips curled into a smile against my skin.

Slowly, he pulled away and leaned on his elbow, staring down at me. He lifted a hand to stroke my cheek with a smile.

I studied Edward's expression. And then, before he could ask me the same question, I whispered. "What are you thinking about?"

He took in a deep breath, though he didn't need it, and let it out in a slow exhale. "I'm nervous," he answered truthfully.

"About the Denali clan?" I asked, smiling knowingly. "Edward, I told you, I'm not upset."

He dropped his gaze and shook his head. "You're underestimating their power," he replied in a soft voice. "I just – I don't – " He broke off, sighing. "It just doesn't make sense."

Now I looked concerned. "What doesn't make sense?" I asked, frightened to see Edward so nervous. It wasn't like him to be this nervous.

He looked back up to meet my gaze. "Bella, we haven't talked to them in months. We sent an invitation at the beginning of the summer – and a week before the wedding, we get a response?" He shook his head, puzzled. "Something's not right."

I gave Edward the most confident and soothing smile that I could muster and placed a hand on his chest. "It will be alright," I assured him. "You're looking for problems when there are none." I pressed my lips to his chin, unable to sit up far enough to reach his mouth. "Don't worry about it."

Edward smiled. He relaxed his stiff posture and shifted just a bit closer to give me the kiss that I had tried to give him. "You're right," he whispered against my mouth.

I smiled, enjoying Edward's close proximity. "I know."

He chuckled and ducked his head to rest it on my shoulder, pressing his cool skin to my neck.

I was thoroughly enjoying my morning so far. Sure, I had panicked after Edward was missing when I woke up – but this had more than made up for that small scare.

"So," I said conversationally, trying to use my brain rather than letting it go to mush under Edward's touch. "When is the Denali clan coming?"

By now, Edward had been placing kisses along the neckline of my shirt. Between kisses, he whispered, "Tonight."

He must have heard my heart rate pick up at these words, because he quickly lifted his head so that he could look down at me with a concerned expression. "What is it?" he asked.

"I'm nowhere _near_ ready!" I squeaked, suddenly terrified for the Denali clan's arrival. "I have _so much_ that I need to do – I'll need the right sort of clothing to make my blood less tempting – and if I leave my hair down, my scent isn't as strong, right?" I was full-on babbling by now, but I didn't care. "Maybe I should buy some perfume at the store to mix in with the smell – would that help? Or I could – "

"_Bella_," Edward cut me off with a grin. "You weren't this nervous before!"

"_Yeah_," I agreed with wide eyes. "When I thought they were coming the _day of the wedding_! But _now_ I have to get ready for their arrival – _tonight_!" I started to push against Edward's chest so that he would roll off of me. "You should have told me that part _sooner_!" Obediently, Edward shifted to the side with a look of thorough amusement, allowing me to try and wiggle my way out from beneath the heavy bed sheets, sliding closer and closer to the edge of the bed. "Are they going to want to meet Charlie, do you think? Maybe I should clean the house just in case…"

Finally, I managed to slide towards the edge of the bed. And with one final shimmy and a muffled, "Oof!" I fell to the floor with a slight thud. My feet, however, remained tangled in the sheets above my head.

I heard a slight rustling on the bed and then Edward's head appeared above me, peering down at me with his adorable, crooked smile.

"Comfortable?" he asked, cocking his head to the side as I rubbed my head with my hand.

"Oh, yeah," I muttered, pouring on as much sarcasm as possible. "You should try falling onto the floor once in awhile. _Tons_ of fun."

"As much as I would enjoy lying on the floor with you…" Edward reached out both arms and easily scooped me up off of the floor and back onto the bed. He held me to his chest, locking his arms securely around my back. "I think it's _much_ more enjoyable up here."

I huffed and tried to cross my arms as Edward teased me, but found it was nearly impossible to do so as he was currently pressing me tightly to his chest. Without much of a fight, I easily gave up and dropped my head onto his shoulder with a smile.

* * *

"Taxi!"

Before the words were even out of her mouth, three yellow cabs had pulled over to the curb, eager to help us out. Well, when there were two, beautiful women standing with large suitcases in front of an airport in need of assistance – who _wouldn't_ want to help out?

"Well," Tanya muttered, smirking as one of the three cab drivers eagerly hopped out of his car, beaming at us. She removed her hand from her skirt where she had been previously inching it up her thigh in her attempt to attract a taxi as quickly as possible. She glanced over at me in an I-told-you-so type of look. "How convenient."

"Good evening, ma'am," the old man greeted Tanya with a tip of his hat. His gaze lingered on her long, bare legs before spotting me. As soon as he looked up, his smile doubled in size. "May I help you ladies with your bags?" he asked, drumming his fingers on the sides of his large belly.

"Just open the trunk," Tanya demanded, impatiently tossing her strawberry-blonde colored hair over her shoulder and resting a hand on her hip. The cab driver's smile faltered, glancing away from me and back to my sister, but he quickly recovered and jogged to the back of his car.

"Sure thing," the man replied, unlocking the trunk. He went to grab for Tanya's bag, but she was much faster than he was; without so much as a kind smile, she shoved past him and easily lifted her suitcase into the trunk.

And, as was Tanya's style, she blatantly ignored the man's stunned expression and made her way towards the back door of the cab in her tall stilettos. "Move it along, Kate – we haven't got all day."

I nodded quickly, tucking my long, black hair behind my ear as it spilled forward into my eyes. Then I sent an apologetic smile to the cab driver. I hurried to the trunk, dragging my heavy suitcase along behind me.

"Sorry about her," I said the minute Tanya had disappeared into the backseat of the car. I set down my suitcase, standing it up against the taxi cab. I tugged on my small t-shirt, pulling it down far enough so that it covered my stomach. "She's just tired after a long day of traveling."

The cab driver was grinning from ear to ear. "I didn't notice anything," he said, looking completely relaxed and at ease. He pointed to my bag. "May I put that into the trunk for you?"

"Oh, could you?" I asked, handing over my piece of luggage with a grateful expression. "Thank you _so_ much."

"Not a problem," the man replied, clearly elated to hear such gratitude – it probably wasn't every day that his passengers were this kind to him.

The taxi driver lifted the bag and nearly dropped it in surprise once he realized just how much this small bag seemed to weigh. He managed to hoist the flower-patterned suitcase halfway into the air before dropping it abruptly into the trunk, sticking out at an odd angle. He turned to me, starting to blush after his display of weakness. I pretended not to notice.

"It's slightly heavy," he mumbled, pushing on the bag to try and force it into the small trunk space. His face went beet red at the force that he was exerting as he tried to push the bag into the car. "It just – needs a little – _boost_," he grunted, slamming his shoulder into the piece of luggage.

I patiently waited for the cab driver to try and push my suitcase into the car, sending him reassuring smiles every time he glanced up at me. Far sooner than I had predicted, however, I could hear the sound of a car window in the taxi cab start to roll down. And, with a sense of dread, I turned to look at the red-head glaring back at me with an expression that clearly read _Get in the damn car._

With a small eye roll, I turned to the taxi driver and coated my voice with as much kindness as possible. "May I help?"

The man dropped his hands from the bag, breathing heavily. "Well, ma'am, I'm not sure if – "

I didn't wait for him to finish his sentence. Instead, I immediately stepped up to my bag and easily maneuvered it into the trunk.

"There we are!" I said with a pleased smile. Then, pretending to act as if the taxi driver had done most of the work, I turned to look at the stunned man and grinned. "Thanks!"

"Uh – sure, no problem," the man muttered, staring with wide eyes as I walked away from him and hopped into the car beside my sister.

He quickly jogged back around the car and climbed into the driver's seat, glancing at me in the rearview mirror. "All set?"

"Yes," Tanya growled, pulling a compact mirror out of her purse. She glanced up from her mirror, staring back at the driver with annoyance when he didn't show any signs of moving anytime soon. "Just drive."

The man swallowed, looking back at me with a worried look. The minute his eyes met mine, however, a grin spread across his face as if his previous conversation with Tanya hadn't occurred at all. "Where to?"

I recited off a memorized address and the man nodded, confirming our destination. He pulled away from the airport, glancing over his shoulder for oncoming traffic, and then easily navigated the yellow car through the traffic.

"So," the man said, trying to make polite conversation. "Have you been to Washington before?"

I looked up from my blue jeans and glanced over at Tanya's annoyed expression before answering him with a sweet smile. "Once or twice," I told him. "We're visiting family."

"Oh, really?" The man nodded, keeping his eyes on the road as he turned onto a highway.

"Wedding," I briefly answered his unspoken question. "Tanya and I are here for the week."

"Ah, I _see_," the man said. Though I kept my eyes locked on the passing scenery outside the window, I could feel the cab driver's gaze watching me with curiosity in his mirror as he spoke. "I love weddings," he said with a wistful sigh. "My brother got married a few weeks ago – though he and his wife have been fighting ever since they got back from their honeymoon…"

Tanya let out an audible groan, closing her compact mirror with a sharp snap.

I swiftly ignored my sister and responded to our cab driver's voiced concern. "They're newlyweds," I reminded him, hoping this comment might ease his nerves about his brother's new wife. "I'm sure they'll be settled down and much happier within a few months. All they need is a bit of time to get used to their new life together."

The cab driver looked as if I had just given him some life changing information. "You know, I bet you're _right_!" he cried enthusiastically. "I was worried they might go through a divorce pretty soon, but all they really need is time!" When he let out a loud, booming laugh of relief, I couldn't help but silently congratulate myself for helping with this man's problem. And then, with a swift glance over his shoulder instead of peeking into the mirror, the driver said, "We haven't been properly introduced." He held up his hand and waved. "I'm Tony."

"Hello, Tony," I said with kindness practically dripping from my voice. "This is Tanya, my sister. And I'm Kate."

"Kate," the man repeated in an airy tone, sounding fascinated by the word as he said it. "What a nice name."

I tried my best to appear embarrassed as he complimented me, but I knew that no matter how hard I tried, I wouldn't blush. "Thank you," I replied. "Tony is a wonderful name as well," I added.

And then an odd sort of feeling seemed to float into the small cab, spilling over me with a slight chill. Just after the sudden drop in temperature, I could sense a contracting feeling in my chest, as if I were being suffocated and something within me was flickering out like a dying flame.

I turned to glare at the red-head in the seat beside me, knowing exactly who the culprit was.

"Tanya, knock it off," I growled, loud enough for her to hear, but inaudible to Tony. "I was just trying to have a nice conversation with – "

"Oh, _please_," Tanya snapped back at me, tossing her curly hair over her shoulder in a haughty manner. "He's only having a conversation with you because he's susceptible to your charm."

I let out a soft sigh, trying to control my anger. She _always_ did this! Every time I was just trying to be nice, she would go and _ruin_ it!

I glanced back up to the front of the car, watching with disappointment as Tony stared blankly out at the road, as if he had never been speaking to me. "Besides," Tanya continued, "I was getting annoyed by your petty small talk."

I couldn't hold back an eye roll as I crossed my arms and fell back against the seat behind me. "That doesn't mean you can just – _do_ that," I muttered, detesting this horrible, constricting feeling inside of me. I tried to take a deep breath, but it felt as if this thing that was taking over my body was restricting my breathing as well. But, I suppose, I didn't really _need_ to breathe…

"I can – and _will_ – do whatever I like," Tanya replied without any chance of backing down from her stance.

I did all that I could at that moment; I just shook my head and turned to stare out of the window, sulking as I watched tree after tree speed past the car.

I knew it wouldn't be worth it if I argued with Tanya for much longer. She always managed to get her way – it was just much easier to let her win without putting up too much of a fight. That way, no one would get hurt.

After several minutes of absolute silence, it started to drizzle. I glanced up at the sky, spotting a large patch of clouds that seemed to have just appeared out of thin air and were now threatening to ruin the nice, clear night.

"You remember why we're here."

I blinked, startled by Tanya's sudden statement. Because that's exactly what it was: a statement. Not a question.

I answered briefly, registering that Tanya was now speaking in her business-like tone. I didn't dare argue with her when she was speaking business. "Yes," I replied, keeping my voice soft enough so as not to include Tony in our conversation.

"And you understand the odds against us."

I nodded, almost unnoticeably. "Of course," I whispered, swallowing.

Finally, Tanya turned her head to face me directly, piercing me with her gaze. "Don't screw this up."

My jaw slackened, stung by Tanya's words. _Don't screw this up?_ I repeated to myself, irritated, once again, by Tanya's lack of courtesy for other's feelings. _What kind of encouragement is that?_

But, I hurried to remind myself, I might have made a few mistakes in the past. Of course, they were all minor errors, but it wasn't as if I was going to _try_ and mess up their plans! _Obviously_ I would be trying my best – but it wasn't _my_ fault if something unplanned for went wrong! So why was _I_ the one always being blamed for something that hadn't even happened?

_Ignore her_, I told myself, biting into my lower lip in order to keep my comments to myself. _Tanya is just trying to show me who the boss is. She just wants me to take this job seriously_.

I managed not to respond to my sister's comment. Instead, I spent the remainder of the car ride staring miserably out the window at the rain that had started to pick up.

The car ride passed in an awkward silence as Tanya refused to speak and Tony seemed to ignore both of us.

Soon, he pulled onto a dark road, surrounded by large trees that hung over us as we drove past. As we got closer to our destination, a large weight seemed to be lifted off of my shoulders and I could breathe again. That horrible, tight feeling in my chest seemed to release. I nearly sighed in relief.

"Looks like we're almost there!" Tony said, beginning to speak to me once again. He grinned as if nothing strange had happened at all. "I hope you ladies have a fun time at the wedding!"

"Oh, we will," I assured him.

Tony pulled into the driveway of a beautiful, three-story house, peering up at the structure with a look of shock and awe.

"Impressive," he muttered to himself as he took in the sight. He stopped the taxi, unable to remove his eyes from the magnificent house. "Be sure to tell your family that they've got a nice place, alright?"

Tanya was already climbing out of the car before Tony had managed to finish his sentence. However, I remained behind to finish my conversation with the friendly cab driver.

"I sure will," I said, snatching up my purse from the seat beside me. I leaned forward between the two front seats and opened it, digging around for several green bills. "How much do we owe you?"

Tony read off a rather large number and I didn't hesitate in paying the man every cent. I simply handed over several bills, including a generous tip, and stepped out of the car.

"Thank you," I said, leaning back in through the passenger side window. "We really appreciate the ride."

"It was my pleasure," the man exclaimed in a rather loud voice, appearing honest. "Maybe we'll run into each other again!"

I shrugged, highly doubting that, but I chose not to dampen his spirits. "I guess we'll see!" I said with enthusiasm, slowly backing away from the bright yellow cab. "Thanks!" I called, waving as the taxi driver drove away.

"Kate!"

I spun on my heels, searching for the owner of the voice that had called my name. Within seconds, I was able to find it.

"Alice!" I immediately called back, smiling as the small girl flew towards me and threw her arms around my neck. "It's so nice to see you!"

Alice pulled away, grinning from ear to ear. She didn't seem to care that we were standing in the middle of the driveway, getting pelted with large rain drops. "I'm _so_ glad you two could make it to Edward's wedding this weekend!"

I smiled in response, unsure as to what I should say – that I was excited to be here? After all, this was _Tanya's_ idea – I was just the one that got roped into it…

I chose, instead, to just drop my hands from the girl's shoulders and take a moment to glance around at my surroundings. Standing on the porch, so as to stay out of the rain, was Carlisle, holding my luggage. Behind him, the rest of his family seemed to huddle together beneath the overhang.

"Hey, there!" I called, jogging to the porch. Once I was safely protected from the rain, I shook my dark hair, trying to get as much of the water out from it as possible. I was about to ring out the bottom of my t-shirt when I was swept up into another hug.

"It's so good to see you again," the voice said. When I pulled away, I realized that it had been Carlisle that was greeting me.

"You too!" I exclaimed, grinning as I started to absorb all of the faces of old friends that I hadn't seen in years. "You picked out a really nice place this time, Carlisle."

The doctor smiled at the compliment. "Esme's the one that found it, of course."

I turned to Carlisle's wife, watching as she seemed to beam with pride. "It's beautiful, Esme."

She put her arm through Carlisle's as she grinned. If she had still had a beating heart, blood would have been rushing to her cheeks. "Thank you, dear," she responded in her sweet, motherly tone. Practically the opposite of Tanya's personality, I mused.

The moment I started to think about her, Tanya appeared, stepping out of the house and back onto the front porch. She must have taken her luggage inside already, I realized, in order to avoid getting her belongings wet from the pouring rain. She would have been an absolute nightmare if any of her clothes had gotten ruined…

"It really is," Tanya said, adding onto my previous statement, as if she had been a part of the conversation all along. "That window inside that covers the entire wall – it's absolutely _gorgeous_," she gushed, smiling for the first time in several hours. And though I knew Tanya's smile might have been just an act to please the Cullen family, it was still a relief to see her appear as though she was happy and relaxed instead of irritable and moody, as she normally was.

Esme beamed at the second compliment.

"So," the big man in the corner started, stepping forward. Immediately, I recognized Emmett as he grinned at us. "Where's everyone else?" he asked. "Is it just you two coming for the wedding?"

I froze, feeling the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I glanced briefly over at Tanya before looking down at my feet, suddenly very uncomfortable with the situation. I hated lying, especially to these people that _trusted_ me. Luckily for me, however, Tanya immediately stepped in when I said nothing.

"They couldn't make it," she said with a slightly disappointed look, as if she really wished they could have come. "I mean – you understand about Irina, of course."

Carlisle nodded, immediately understanding. "Is she still upset about Laurent?"

I watched in silence as Tanya's eyes seemed to flash, but her tone was much softer than I believed it would have been if she hadn't been controlling her emotions around the Cullen family. "Yes – she's still heartbroken about his death," Tanya told them. "So we decided it might be best if she stayed home with Carmen and Eleazar."

I nodded, hoping to help elaborate on Tanya's story to make it sound as believable as possible. "We suggested it might be better if they came on the day of the wedding rather than the week beforehand."

"Of course," Esme said, giving the girls an understanding nod. "And if they decide to come down before the wedding, let them know that we have plenty of space. It won't be any trouble housing any other guests."

"Thank you, Esme," Tanya replied, reaching out to touch the woman's shoulder as she spoke. "That's so kind of you. And," she added, "if there's anything we can do to help with wedding preparations, please feel free to ask for our help! We want to do whatever we can to make it easier for you."

Alice politely shook her head. "Everything's all set," she told them, adding a slight shrug of her shoulders. "All we really need to do is just wait for the wedding day to show up!"

Esme smiled and nodded towards the front door of the house. "Well, I suppose we don't need to stand out here all night. Won't you come inside?"

I nodded, glad to finally get out of the rain. "Sure – before the weather gets any worse!" I said with a small laugh, knowing that the weather here in Forks was almost always this bad.

There were a few polite chuckles in response to my comment, but their laughter was abruptly cut off by another sound.

Both Tanya and I turned around on the front porch, staring out into the pitch black night as the roaring sound seemed to grow closer.

"That'll be Bella," Emmett muttered, smirking as he crossed his muscular arms over his chest. "She's got this _horrible_, beat up truck." He shook his head, as if he were reliving a past conversation. "It's just a piece of junk, but she _insists_ on keeping it…"

Kate kept her eyes glued to the road as a large, red truck pulled in front of the Cullen's house. She watched in silence as the two people in the truck seemed to stare through the windshield, locking gazes with the new visitors standing on the porch.

And then they climbed out of the vehicle.

* * *

**Author's Note: A few questions will be answered in the next chapter, I'm sure... And then I can't WAIT to post the third chapter for you all... :D A few more characters that you might enjoy meeting...**

**Hope you enjoyed the first chapter!**

**Yours truly,  
Amelia Bedelia**


	2. Greatest Power

**Author's Note: Uploaded in less than a week - that's pretty good, considering my past record of uploading chapters on a continuous basis! :D**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter Two: Greatest Power**

I stared through the windshield of my truck, speechless.

"Oh, no," I muttered, fear setting in. "They're here – that's them, isn't it?" I watched the two girls standing on the porch of Edward's house, groaning in disappointment. The girl with dark hair was just as pretty as I would have imagined, but the one with the red hair – the one with the too-short skirt and the thin shirt –

That had to be Tanya.

"Oh, _god_," I whispered. My heartbeat started to pick up, speeding up my shallow gasps for air. "That's Tanya."

Edward nodded. He leaned forward, turned the keys, and pulled them out of the ignition. "Yeah, that's her," he said, shoving the car keys into his pocket. Then he leaned back in the driver's seat, unmoving as we sat and stared at the visitors.

I started to feel as if I were about to throw up. "You turned down Tanya," I reminded him, unable to remove my gaze from the beauty on the front porch. "And you'd rather marry _me_?"

Edward turned to look at me with a small smile. "Bella, you aren't really worried, are you?" he asked. When I didn't respond but stared blankly through the windshield, Edward reached over to grab my hand and kissed it.

"Bella," he repeated in a low voice.

I finally turned, looking at Edward with a mixed expression between horror and defeat. How could I ever compare to something like _her_?

"I love _you_," he whispered, kissing my hand again. He flipped it so that my palm was face up and his lips were on my wrist. "You have nothing to be worried about."

I watched as he kissed my wrist once, twice, and then a third time. Finally, he lifted his gaze to lock with mine, as if he were pleading with me to understand.

"Right," I muttered, glancing back through the glass as Edward slowly lowered my hand. Tanya was staring at us with her arms crossed smugly over her chest while the other girl stood just behind her shoulder, waiting for us to make a move. _He loves me_, I tried to reassure myself. _Not Tanya. Me. I'm the one he's marrying._

Slowly, I nodded my head and released his hand. I turned to climb down, out of the truck, but Edward was already there waiting, having run around the car to help me out. He offered me his hand, which I graciously accepted, and he gently lifted me out of the vehicle and onto the ground.

"Thanks," I muttered, trying not to break the silence. Then I started to feel the rain.

"Come on," Edward said, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me towards his chest, as if he were trying to shield me from the rain. "Let's get you inside before you freeze like you did this morning…"

And just as we had started to move forward, a sudden whistling sound pierced the air around us, as if something were flying towards us at a rapid pace.

Before I could look around for the cause of this noise, Edward quickly released my shoulders and pushed me behind him.

Then came the sudden crash.

I regained my senses, trying to process what had just happened. Slowly, I stepped to the side, peering around Edward – and that's when I saw _her_.

It had been her – _Tanya_ – that had made that noise. She must have been running at such a high speed that the wind had been whistling around her as she passed. And now Tanya was clinging to Edward as if it were a life or death situation with both her arms around his neck and her legs locked around his waist.

"Edward!" she squealed, hugging him with all of her strength. "I missed you so much!"

I tried as hard as I could not to appear jealous. I _really_ did. I mean – she's been a friend of their family for several years – she probably just missed Edward a lot. It must've just been her personality – a very touchy-feely personality, I guess. I bet she had the same greeting for everyone else when she saw the rest of the Cullen family.

But the moment she started to repeatedly kiss his cheek…

I couldn't stand it any longer. I turned away, turning bright red. I couldn't even glance up at the others on the front porch for fear of succumbing to even more embarrassment. I was sure the entire Cullen family would be watching me with pitying looks. They all probably felt sorry for me, now that I had seen my competition and her enthusiastic greeting towards Edward.

All I could do was stare determinedly at my feet.

"Alright, Tanya," Edward muttered. "That's enough – nice to see you, too."

My heart picked up after hearing Edward speak. He was pushing Tanya away from him, I realized with thrill of excitement. _He really loves me_, I found myself thinking, relieved to have this fact reaffirmed, no matter how many times he told me those words himself. He wouldn't have been trying to get this woman off of him unless he really loved me!

I chanced a glance back up at Edward to see him looking down at me with an unreadable expression. I smiled, trying to cheer him up, but his face was suddenly twisted away from my gaze as Tanya put both of her hands on either side of his head to turn him towards her.

I watched with open-mouthed horror as she pressed her lips against his.

"_Tanya_," Edward growled, wrenching his face away from Tanya's.

She smiled back at him, acting as if she had done nothing wrong whatsoever. "Yes?"

"Get _off_ of me," he hissed, putting his hands on her waist. He shoved her away from him with such force that, had she not been so agile and strong herself, she would have landed several yards away on her backside. But, as it was, she was a vampire and landed on her feet with a smirk on her lips.

"It's so good to see you again," Tanya said, as if nothing had occurred between her and Edward.

Edward, however, stood tall and rigid as he stared at her in a stunned silence, allowing the rain to stream down his face without making any attempt to avoid the rain drops. He didn't move, didn't blink, didn't breathe. I frowned, realizing that something was wrong here – something was _very_ wrong – and I didn't think it had to do with that kiss.

I watched as Edward stared at Tanya in horror, and then looked over at his family. He looked at each and every one of them, as if he were unable to believe what he was seeing. It wasn't until I had put one hand on his arm that he seemed to jerk back to reality.

"_Bella_," he whispered, looking down at me. I searched his eyes, wishing I could read minds, but I had no idea what he could be thinking. So many different expressions flitted across his face within that one glance down at me, and I couldn't decipher a single look. Then he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his chest, keeping a protective hold on me.

"What are you doing, Tanya?" Edward growled, his eyes flicking up to study the red-head with curiosity.

The girl smiled and tilted her head to the side, frowning with confusion. "What are you talking about?" she asked in a sweet, high-pitched voice.

She started to step closer, but Edward immediately shot a hand out, silently telling her to keep her distance. When she stopped moving, he brought his hand back to wrap it around me, pulling me even tighter into his chest. "What are you trying to hide?"

Tanya blinked, appearing confused, and then a look of understanding washed over her. "Oh, _that_," she said with a flirtatious laugh. She covered her mouth with a small hand, as if she found the situation far funnier than any of us did. "You'd understand if I felt slightly vulnerable, don't you?"

Edward's grip turned to stone, unwilling to release me anytime soon, but his glare intensified. "You never blocked me out before," he said in a low voice, as if it were a warning. I could feel the rumble of a growl deep in his chest, sending shivers down my spine. "What's going on, Tanya," he demanded.

Tanya giggled again, giving him a small shrug. "It's just for the next week until your wedding," she said, batting her eyelashes. "I feel insecure when my mind is being read all of the time, dear Edward," she explained in her sweet voice. "You understand, don't you?"

I looked up, watching as Edward swallowed. And then his eyes seemed to dart over to the front porch once more where the rest of his family was watching with concern. He seemed to flinch – the first time I had ever seen that sort of a reaction from him – and he abruptly shifted his gaze back to mine. Then he closed eyes, as if he were about to be sick.

"Fine," he muttered.

Immediately, I started to squirm in Edward's tight embrace and managed to remove one of my hands from the hold he had on me. I lifted it to his face, gently cupping his cheek as I longed to fix whatever it was that had upset him.

"Good!" Tanya said with more enthusiasm than should have been allowed. Then she turned and skipped out of the rain and back onto the front porch.

"Edward," I whispered, praying our conversation wouldn't be overheard. "What happened?" I asked, trying to figure out what just occurred between the two. I couldn't find any explanation.

"Not now," Edward responded in a voice just as soft as mine. He dropped his wet forehead onto mine, gasping for breath as if he had just run a marathon. And then he abruptly pulled away and looked toward his house with that same, unreadable expression. "Come on," he said, deciding that it was finally time to go inside, after everyone else had already gone in. "We should meet them – " Edward paused, stopping to turn and look at me with raised eyebrows, as if he had just come up with a clever idea. "And then you should _really_ go home to get some rest. You look really tired."

I lifted an eyebrow, _extremely_ confused, now. It wasn't even nine o'clock yet, and it was the _summer_! I hadn't gone to bed before midnight all summer!

"What are you talking about?" I asked, absolutely befuddled by the entire situation. Nothing made _sense_ anymore! "Why would I – "

"_Bella_," Edward whispered, widening his eyes as I squinted up into the rain to look at him. "Just trust me."

My jaw seemed to drop slightly, stunned by the cryptic looks he was sending me. And then I nodded, showing him that I trusted him as I tried to blink away my confusion.

Silently, I followed him into his house.

"Here," Edward said, handing me a towel, just like he had this morning. He wrapped it around my shoulders, running his hands up and down over my arms to help dry me off, and then stopped. Slowly, he started to pull me towards him, wrapping his arms around me as he had earlier, but without displaying as much protection as he had when Tanya had been there.

I relaxed into his loving embrace. I pressed my face into his sopping wet shirt and breathed in the scent, smiling. And for several minutes, we just stood there in the doorway holding each other. There were no distractions and no noise – it was just us.

"Edward!" Alice called from another room. A fast pair of feet started rushing towards us and I soaked up the last few seconds of our alone time. "Come on," Alice interrupted, walking straight up to us. "You can't hog Bella _all_ the time!"

"I don't mind," I muttered, twisting my fingers into the material of Edward's shirt and gripping onto it for dear life. I spoke again, directly into Edward's chest, hoping that Alice couldn't catch what I was about to say next. "He can hog me all he wants."

Edward chuckled.

"We should go and say hi," Edward said, leaning down to kiss my forehead. I looked up at him, jutting out my lower lip in an attempt to persuade Edward otherwise, but he shook his head with a small smile on his face. "Just for a little bit."

With a soft sigh, I nodded. "Alright," I said, discarding my towel before I formally met the Denali clan. "Let's go."

Together, we walked through the house, me trailing behind Edward with my hand in his. We entered a room filled with excited chatter as the Cullen family and the two girls from the Denali clan discussed their lives.

"Actually, we're thinking about moving sometime soon," the girl with black hair said, folding her arms across her chest and leaning up against the wall of glass. "I mean – it's been _years_ since we've gone anywhere new. Don't you think, Tanya?"

The redhead's gaze darted across the room, staring at Edward the moment we walked into the room. She smiled, raising a singular eyebrow with an air of confidence about her that I found incredibly nerve-racking.

"Maybe we'll move here," Tanya said, never removing her eyes from Edward as she spoke. "Wouldn't that be fun? We could all live as a big family."

Carlisle cleared his throat, looking down at Tanya and then up to me. He smiled kindly as our eyes met and he immediately stood up from his spot on the couch.

"Bella," he said, walking towards me. "There's a few friends of ours from the Denali clan that we'd like you to meet." He turned and walked towards the red-head, leading me to her spot on the arm of the couch. "I believe you've already met Tanya."

I tried to smile as politely as possible, but I don't think my facial expression could have even passed for a smile. "Right," I said, unable to feel any kindness towards this woman. "Edward's friend."

The woman smirked and winked at me. "It's a pleasure, Isabella," she said, daintily crossing one leg over the other with the greatest of ease.

My feeble attempt at a smile disappeared entirely. "It's Bella," I corrected her in a flat tone.

Tanya's expression was wiped blank as well, surprised by my forwardness, I assumed. She narrowed her eyes at me and started to lean forward as if she were about to stand up from her spot on the arm of the couch.

My heart rate doubled – I was sure of it. And the worst part was that I knew Tanya could hear it.

_How stupid can I get?_ I scolded myself. _You choose now of all times to pick a fight with someone – and you choose a _vampire_? Are you _suicidal_?_

I was in the middle of frantically searching for a way to talk myself out of my sharp remark when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Instantly, I knew that it would be Edward without turning around, and I felt immensely relieved just by his presence.

Tanya must have spotted Edward as well, because she started to lean back, ignoring my previous comment entirely.

Carlisle quickly stepped into the awkward situation, guiding me over to the girl with black hair. She seemed to be dressed just like me: jeans and a t-shirt. "And this is Katrina," he said, pointing to the girl that was leaning up against the glass wall. "Her sister."

"Actually," the girl added, "I'm not _technically_ her sister – that's just what we tell everyone. And I go by Kate."

"Oh," I replied with a small nod. And then I realized that her hand was extended for me to shake. I quickly grabbed it, trying not to be rude. "Hi, Kate," I said, shaking her outstretched hand with a pleasant smile.

Kate grinned and I felt suddenly relaxed, as if the entire situation with Tanya didn't matter anymore. Who cared if she kissed my fiancée right in front of me? And, sure, it looked like she probably hated my guts… But that's alright, I guess. I didn't feel too concerned about it, now. I bet it would all blow over soon anyway.

"So," Kate said, tucking her hair behind her ears. She chuckled softly to herself before asking her question. "When did Edward tell you he was a vampire?"

I laughed as well, glancing over my shoulder at Edward as he stood, still as a statue without smiling. How could he not be happy around such a nice girl?

I quickly shook my head at his odd behavior and turned back to Kate. "Actually, Edward didn't tell me – I found out."

Kate lifted an eyebrow, eyeing Edward with a hint of amusement. "Were you being sloppy in hiding your true identity?" she teased him with a playful smile.

Before Edward could answer, I spoke up again. "Actually, my friend – Jacob Black – he's the one who told me." I started to laugh while I was speaking, apparently finding this story funnier than everyone else thought it was. "You see, he thought this whole vampire thing was some dumb myth, really – he had _no_ idea it was all true!"

I felt a soft tap on my shoulder. I spun around, still laughing at what I had said, and found Edward looking down at me with a searching expression. I stared at him for a moment, and my upbeat mood slowly seemed to diminish.

I bit into my lip, frowning. What had just _happened_ to me? How could my mood have changed so dramatically within twenty seconds?

I looked back up into Edward's eyes, finally understanding what he was trying to silently convey to me. His words from earlier came back to me. _You should really go home to get some rest. You look really tired._

"Edward, I'm feeling really tired," I said, faking a yawn. I dropped my head onto his chest, trying to act as if I was to weary to hold my head up any longer. "Can you take me home?"

"Of course," he said without a moment of hesitation. Immediately, he put an arm around my shoulders and started to walk me towards the front door. "It was nice seeing you two ladies. I hope the others in your family are doing just as well."

Tanya didn't miss a beat before responding with, "It's _always_ a pleasure with you, Edward."

And then, just before bolting for the exit, Edward turned to Alice and locked his gaze with hers. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

For a moment, Alice didn't respond, but she soon started to nod at his unspoken request.

Without another word, Edward sped up, heading straight for my beat up, old truck. I stumbled on the front porch, nearly falling face first on their slippery front porch, but Edward caught me before the impact. However, he didn't slow down to put me back on my feet. Instead, he carried me in his arms straight to the passenger door of the truck, gently lifting me into my seat, and then hurried around to the driver's side.

He pulled out the car key and stuffed it into the ignition, turning it with so much force that I thought my key might break off in his hand. It didn't break, however, and the truck roared to life.

Without a glance back at the house behind him, Edward stomped on the gas pedal and sped away.

* * *

"Well," Rosalie muttered, staring after Edward as he left the room. "That certainly was odd."

"Tell me about it," Emmett agreed, following his wife's gaze. He then turned back to Tanya with an annoyed look. "And it's just a guess, but I think Bella might have been a little upset about your lovely display of affection with Edward."

My sister held her hands up in the air with a surprised expression, as if she had no idea that she had offended Bella. "What – that _kiss_?" Tanya exclaimed, blinking with wide, innocent-looking eyes. "I was just saying hello to an old friend!"

"Yeah," Emmett scoffed, cracking his knuckles in what he hoped to be an intimidating manner. "Nothing like saying hello with a little tongue."

I glanced back and forth between Tanya and Emmett with a worried expression. _Don't start a fight_, I silently begged her. _We just got here – and I know we can't take on all of them at once…_

"_Emmett_."

I felt suddenly relaxed as Jasper stepped forward and put his hand on Emmett's shoulder. "Calm down," he commanded in a soft voice.

Emmett took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, eyeing Tanya with frustration. Then he shook his head, as if she wasn't worth his time, and stood up, walking out of the room.

"Hey," Alice interjected, trying to lighten the mood, "did you two want to go on a tour of the house?"

"Actually…" Tanya glanced over at me, trying to say something without actually speaking. I immediately picked up on the silent message. "We'd love to go to our room to unpack just a bit."

Alice nodded, relieved to hear that there was something she could help with. "Sure thing!" she exclaimed, grinning. And then she skipped over to the staircase. "Right this way!"

Tanya stood, grabbing her luggage from the bottom of the stairs while I followed, smiling over my shoulder at the rest of the family before I left.

"Here we are!" Alice said, stopping in front of a door at the end of the hallway on the third floor. "You two can leave your things in here for the week."

"Excellent," Tanya said in an upbeat voice, but she didn't waste her time trying to smile anymore. Clearly, she was done with the pretense of being happy.

Alice poked her head into the room after we entered. "Do you need any help?" she asked, trying to be of assistance, but I was sure Tanya mistook her kindness as annoyance.

"No," Tanya cut her off before she could say anything else. "We're fine – we'll be out in a few minutes."

"Oh." Alice nodded, slowly backing out of the room. "Well, just let us know if either of you need any – "

"Alright," Tanya cut her off, abruptly closing the door in Alice's face. Then she pressed her ear up against the door, listening as Alice left the hallway and walked back down to the first floor.

I waited for Tanya to say something, but she remained frozen in place for several minutes.

I sighed, slightly impatient, and was about to open my mouth to interrupt the silence, but Tanya beat me to it.

"They're all downstairs," she said in the softest whisper she could manage, so as to avoid any of the Cullen's from overhearing our conversation. She reached down to flatten her skirt and then looked up at me with a straight face. "Are you ready?"

I licked my lips, swallowed, and then nodded. "Yeah," I said, running my fingers nervously through my hair.

Tanya lifted her suitcase onto a chair and unzipped it. "Well?" she said, nodding towards the window. "What are you waiting for?"

I blinked, surprised by the suddenness of this situation. "What – right now?" I asked, trying to keep my voice to a whisper. "I mean – they're gonna know I'm gone when I'm not back in a few minutes!"

Tanya rolled her eyes as she pulled out a pile of neatly folded skirts. "I'll tell them you were a little thirsty after being around Bella and you wanted to go hunt for a few hours – just to make sure you weren't tempted by her blood." She stopped, halfway across the room, and turned to send me a knowing look. "They all _love_ that pathetic, human girl. Trust me. They'll probably be _glad_ you're taking the precaution and they'll want you to do so every night."

I nodded, understanding the plan. "Alright," I said, walking over to the small window. I opened it with as little noise as possible and whispered, "I'll be back in the morning."

Tanya nodded, glancing once at the closed door behind her, and then looked back at me. "Good luck."

"Yeah," I muttered, leaping soundlessly out of the third story window and landing in a crouch on both feet. "Let's hope this plan of yours works…"

* * *

We were approaching my house, and Edward hadn't said a single word the entire ride home.

"Edward?" I asked, hoping to get him to respond.

He did speak, but it wasn't the soothing words I had hoped to hear. His rigid posture didn't budge as he shook his head and tightened his grip around the steering wheel, muttering, "Not yet."

_Not yet?_ I frowned, trying for the hundredth time to solve all of the mysterious things that had happened in the past few minutes. Why was Edward reacting so oddly all of a sudden? What about his outburst at Tanya? And what on _earth _was that bizarre feeling I got around Kate? I was suddenly _happy_ for some reason – nothing seemed to make sense!

With a screech, Edward expertly swerved the truck around a parked car and stopped in front of my house. Then he pulled the keys from the ignition and turned to look at me with an intense gaze.

"I'll meet you in your room," he said, handing over the car keys. And then he disappeared into the darkness.

I was at a loss for words. And, I was sure, if it hadn't been for that assurance that I would meet Edward in my bedroom once I got inside, I would have stayed in my truck, unmoving and stunned for several hours.

But with an exhausted sigh, I climbed down from my beat-up truck and ran through the pouring rain.

"Hey, Bella," Charlie called, glancing over his shoulder as I walked in the door. He was already seated in front of the television with a beer and a remote control in his hands. "Did you meet Edward's relatives?"

"Uh – yeah," I muttered, tossing my keys onto the kitchen table. "They were, um…" I bit my lip, searching for a word to describe the vampires I had met. "Nice," I weakly finished my sentence, unable to get the thought of Tanya kissing Edward out of my head. The scene kept replaying itself, making me nauseous.

"Well, that's good," Charlie said, turning back to the television. His eyes quickly glazed over as he tuned into the game playing at the moment.

"Right," I said, sighing as I trudged over to the stairs. "I'm feeling a little tired right now, Dad," I said, starting up to my room. "I'm going to bed."

"Alright – goodnight, Bella!" he called, his voice trailing off as I climbed higher and higher. Before long, I reached my bedroom door, opening it with a slight squeak of its hinges.

I reached for the light switch to turn it on, but I hadn't even taken two steps into the room before I felt two hands grip my shoulders and a cool pair of lips press against mine. I was so startled that I just stood in the doorway, allowing myself to be kissed without moving anywhere.

Edward was the one who managed to walk me away from the door, quickly removing one hand from my shoulder to close the door himself, and then pressed me into the wall behind me.

His behavior was incredibly out of character, I thought. His kisses were usually so soft and gentle. And he always waited to say something – or at least _greet_ me – before kissing me, almost as if it was his way of asking for permission to kiss me.

But this time, his kiss seemed so much more unguarded and reckless than normal. It was almost as if he had thrown every single one of his rules out the window and was kissing me without worrying about the repercussions. And he had me up against a _wall_.

Not that I minded, of course.

Once I finally regained my senses, I lifted my hands, running them up his chest and over his shoulders. One hand started to climb up through his hair, making it stand on end, while the other latched itself behind his neck, urging him closer than was physically possible.

My hands' movement seemed to have triggered something in Edward's mind, because the moment I tried to pull him closer, his hands dropped from my shoulders, taking their time as they slid down the side of my rib cage, and then firmly gripped onto my waist. I gasped in surprise when he, too, pulled me close, pressing my entire body against him and leaving no space between us.

It was my soft gasp that caused Edward to open his eyes, and look at me. He slowly pulled away with one last peck on the lips and then pressed his forehead to mine.

"I love you, Bella," he whispered, lifting a hand to touch my cheek. He gently tucked a strand of wet hair behind my ear, smiling.

My heart raced, always excited to hear these words, no matter how many times a day Edward insisted on reminding me of it. "I love you, too, Edward."

By now, Edward had his eyes closed and was repeatedly running his hand through my hair, over and over until it had practically dried itself.

I took a moment, studying his flawless facial features. His beautiful, pale skin seemed to glow from the moonlight streaming in through the window. I tilted me head to the side just a fraction of an inch, studying his perfect bone structure. When you combined his skin with the sharp angles of his face, he looked like a stone statue.

I sighed – unable to restrain myself – before opening my mouth. "Edward," I whispered, trying to get his attention without startling him.

Slowly, his eyes opened and he looked down at me with a searching expression.

"Are you going to tell me what happened tonight?" I asked, biting my lip as I started to doubt whether or not he would ever tell me the truth. He had been silent the entire car ride – would he finally open up to me now?

But, as it turns out, I never had to worry. With a slow nod of his head, Edward released my hair and my waist, stepping away from the wall that he had backed me into. "It was horrible," he murmured.

Immediately, my eyes doubled in size, stunned by these words. "It – what _happened_?" I asked, almost frantic, now. I quickly stepped forward, closing the distance between us once again. "What was horrible?"

Edward looked down at his chest where I had placed my hands and covered them with his own. "Tanya," he said with a small groan. "I had no idea that she was going – that she would try to – "

"Kiss you?" I supplied with a weak smile.

Edward stopped stumbling over his words and looked back up into my eyes, frowning. "I'm so sorry, Bella," he apologized, dropping his chin onto his chest. "I should have pushed her away before she got that far. It's my fault."

I shook my head, allowing a small smile when I realized that Edward would take the blame for almost anyone – even some of the nastiest creatures in the world. "It's _not_ your fault," I corrected him with a soft chuckle. "Tanya is just – a piece of work," I said, hoping these words wouldn't come across as bad as what I had _wanted _to say.

This time, Edward laughed as well, lifting my mood. "Tell me about it," he said, dropping one hand. The other one he kept on mine, using it to pull me towards my bed. "And not only did she – _kiss_ me," he said, choking on the words as he said them, "but she blocked my mind-reading." Edward dropped onto the edge of the bed, shaking his head. "That was, perhaps, the longest ten minutes of my life." He started to crack a small smile. "I've never been so relieved to hear Charlie's thoughts in my entire life."

I froze before climbing onto the bed, stunned by Edward's last words. "She did – _what_ to you?"

Edward looked over his shoulder as I crawled up from the bottom of the bed to sit behind him while he sat with his legs dangling over the edge. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he spoke. "It's her special ability as a vampire," he explained, running a hand through his hair. "She takes away your greatest power."

I sighed, dropping my chin onto his shoulder. "I'm sorry," I apologized, even though I had nothing to do with the problem. "That must have been horrible."

He laughed softly. "You have _no_ idea," he said, trailing his fingers over my arms that were locked around his neck.

I tilted my head to the side, unable to hide my smirk. "Right," I said, allowing my lips to brush against Edward's cheek as I spoke. "I have _no_ idea what it feels like not to hear anyone's thoughts."

With a crooked smile, Edward turned to look at me as if he had been expecting my sarcastic comment. I lifted my eyebrows, suppressing a giggle, and he kissed my cheek before elaborating. "Bella, I've been listening to my family's thoughts for _years_," he said, weakly dropping his hands into his lap, as if he were exhausted. "_Not_ hearing their thoughts when you're looking right at them – it's like looking at a family member for the first time after they've lost an arm and a leg. It's just – not _normal_."

Although I couldn't fully understand what that must have felt like, I nodded, hoping to show him that I knew how difficult that would be. "I know," I whispered, kissing the back of his neck. "That sounds difficult."

Edward twisted around, lifting his feet onto the bed and grabbing my waist. He kissed me once and then fell back onto my pillows, pulling me down to lay beside him.

"I couldn't stand being there any longer," Edward said, staring up at the ceiling as I watched him speak. He tilted his head to the side, glancing over at me with a small smile. "You were the only person I could stand to be around. You're the only one that it's actually _normal _not to hear your thoughts."

I smiled, burying myself deeper into the crook of Edward's arm. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Edward chuckled, pulling his free arm across his chest to rest on my waist. His finger played absentmindedly with the belt loop on my jeans as he started to stare at the ceiling once more.

"Does Kate have a power?" I asked, now curious.

Edward nodded. "Hers can almost be worse," he said, frowning slightly.

I tried to think of something worse than Tanya's power, but nothing seemed to make sense. "What is it?"

"Well," Edward said, clearing his throat, "when she was alive, she was incredibly – _nice_."

I squinted, trying to figure out if this was some sort of joke. Then I started to laugh.

"So now she's _extra_ nice?" I asked, trying to stifle my giggles. "That doesn't sound very dangerous to _me_."

Edward smiled and shook his head, as if he knew this would be my reaction, and then rolled over to look at me. "Do you remember what happened when you were talking to her before we left?"

"Course I do!" I exclaimed in the softest voice possible. "Kate _was_ nice," I said, defending her. "We were having a good conversation – there was nothing wrong with that!"

"Right," Edward said, lifting an eyebrow. "It's completely fine – until you start spilling secrets that you never wanted to tell anyone in the first place."

I started to think about this. Alright, sure, maybe Kate was so nice that people felt almost _too_ comfortable talking to her. I guess I could sort-of see Edward's point…

"You were about to tell her all about Jake when I interrupted you," Edward continued. "She can learn anything from you that she wanted to know. She could have told you that it would be fun to throw yourself out of a moving car, and you would have _believed _her – because you think she's the nicest person in the world." He paused, giving me a look. "Do you get it now?"

I nodded, slightly annoyed that the kindness I had felt towards Kate hadn't been entirely genuine.

"Thankfully," Edward added with a soft sigh, "Kate really _is_ nice. I mean – otherwise, she wouldn't have gained that power." He stopped speaking to shake his head. "I'm just worried that after spending too much time around Tanya, she might start to use her power for the wrong sort of things."

I nodded. "So, what about you?" I asked, looking up into Edward's golden eyes. "You aren't affected by Kate's power?"

Edward shook his head, looking relieved by this fact. "Not as much as you are," he said, pressing his forehead against mine. "It's definitely not as strong when it's used on other vampires. We still feel it, but it has its greatest impact on humans," he explained.

Then he seemed to realize something and looked at me with an urgent look. "Don't speak to Kate unless I'm around," he warned me. "If I'm not there to pull you away, you won't want to ever leave," he explained. "With Tanya, you can always walk away from her, but if Kate wants you to stick around – you _will_." He stopped, looking into my frustrated expression, and then kissed my forehead, trying to reassure me that this precaution was necessary. "On second thought, just don't go anywhere without me until they go home."

I laughed, wrapping an arm around Edward's chest. "Of course," I said, rolling my eyes. "Like I would ever want to go anywhere _without_ you."

Edward grinned at this comment, but looked relieved to hear it, nonetheless.

I let out a heavy sigh, closing my eyes. I knew it was hours away from the normal time that I went to sleep, but I couldn't help but feel somewhat tired after the long day.

I fought off a shiver as Edward's hand moved from the belt loop on my jeans to my skin, gently tracing small circles with his cool fingers. I inhaled the sweet scent of Edward, smiling as the familiar smell filled me with a sense of comfort.

A thought drifted across my mind just before I fell into a deep sleep.

"Edward?"

With the smoothest motion, he lowered his lips to mine and kissed me, smiling as he pulled away. "Yes, love?"

I lifted an eyelid, peeking out at Edward's waiting expression.

"Kate's power affects humans the most," I stated, reciting the information that Edward had already explained to me. "And since Tanya takes away your mind-reading power – does that mean she can't do anything to me?"

Edward took much longer to answer this question than I had anticipated. I had expected him to say that I was correct, because I had no special power since I wasn't a vampire yet – but he seemed to be thinking about the answer far more than I really wanted him to.

I swallowed, feeling my mouth go dry. "Edward?" My voice cracked.

With a deep breath, he lifted his gaze to meet mine, frowning. "Tanya takes away your greatest power," he told me. "It doesn't have to be a _special_ power – it's just your power."

I looked down at Edward's shirt where I was playing with the button on his collar. "So what's my power?" I asked, almost dreading this answer.

Edward swallowed. "You live," he stated simply. "Your power – is that you're alive."

I tried to process this information, tried to understand what it all meant, but I couldn't. I'm not sure if it was because I was too exhausted or if I couldn't process the words – or maybe I just didn't _want_ to realize what this meant – but I seemed to be having trouble with what Edward was trying to say.

"So, Tanya would make me…" I swallowed, coming up with the best answer that I could manage. "Not live?"

And then slowly, but surely, Edward nodded, as if he had never wanted to tell me this piece of information in the first place. "If Tanya wanted to use her power to take yours away – she would be able to make you stop breathing." My pulse sped up upon hearing these words. "She would suffocate you until you died."

I was wide awake, now. There was no chance of sleep anymore. I was completely terrified of letting my guard down now that I knew that this woman – the one who, apparently, still had feelings for _my_ fiancée – could kill me without physical contact in seconds.

"Oh," I said, swallowing. I stared back into Edward's golden eyes, trying to recite the facts for him. "So – Tanya already hates me – and she can kill me at any moment." I shuddered, burying my face into Edward's shoulder as I felt tears prick at the corners of my eyes. "Why is it that the red-headed, female vampires always want to kill _me_?" I moaned, my voice coming out muffled as I spoke directly into Edward's shirt.

Edward let out a soft chuckle as he pressed his hand to the back of my head. He managed to gently rock my head to the side so that he could clearly see my face. He immediately stopped laughing when he saw the tears building up in my eyes and brushed the pad of his thumb across my skin. "Bella," he whispered, kissing my cheek as I closed my eyes, allowing a small tear to roll down my face. "She's not going to kill you."

"Well, I've been lucky so far," I pointed out, speaking at a rapid pace. "What if I'm not-so-lucky this time, Edward?" An idea occurred to me and I felt my stomach plummet. "_You_ said that they must be here for reasons other than the wedding – they're here to _kill_ me! That's _got_ to be it!" I nearly shrieked, possibly alerting Charlie to suspicious activity in my room.

"They're _not_ going to kill you," Edward reassured me, gently pressing his lips to mine as he tried to calm me down. "They're not that stupid – they're completely outnumbered. They wouldn't even _attempt_ to kill you while I'm around," he said, scoffing at the idea. "Besides," he added, "Tanya can only use her power on one person at a time." He cradled my head in his hand, holding me close to his chest as he spoke. "As long as she's still blocking _my_ power, you have nothing to worry about."

I tried to smile at this small sign of hope, but I couldn't. All that came out of my mouth was a shuddering sigh.

"It'll be alright," Edward whispered as he stroked my hair in a calming manner. "I won't let anything happen to you."

I nodded as best as I could against his arm and closed my eyes.

* * *

**Author's Note: I think there might be a few unanswered questions in the next chapter or two, so if you haven't figured it out quite yet, everything should be somewhat cleared up after that point, so just bear with me for a bit longer!**

**Yours truly,  
Amelia Bedelia**


	3. Brothers

**Author's Note: FINALLY - the moment you've waited for - Jake is here! And I think this was probably my favorite chapter to write... Those wolves are just growing on me...**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter Three: Brothers**

"Dad?"

Billy Black looked up from the paper spread across the table and smiled at me as I walked through the front door. "Hello, Jake," he said, carefully folding up the newspaper at all of the right creases. He dropped his hands, placing them in his lap as I walked further into the small kitchen. "How was your day?"

I dropped into the small, wooden chair across from my father, considering about telling him the truth. _Well, Dad – I went to Bella's house to RSVP for her wedding – just like you told me I should – and I saw her and that bloodsucker making out in her bedroom. It really was a great day. Thanks, Dad. Thanks a lot._

"It was alright," I muttered, trying to push away all of the unpleasant memories of Bella and _him_ that seemed to be flooding my mind. I opened my mouth to ask my father the same question – how _his_ day went – but I doubted I would even care about his answer if I stuck around to hear it. "I'm really tired, Dad," I said, running my hand through my hair in exhaustion. "I think I'm just going to go to bed early tonight."

"Right," my dad said, turning back to his paper. "Patrol in the morning?"

I groaned, having forgotten about the extra shift that I had picked up from Leah for the morning. "Yeah," I grumbled, standing up from my chair and shuffling towards my bedroom. "I forgot about that."

My dad smiled as I left the room. "Well, get a good night's sleep!" he called over his shoulder, once again spreading his paper across the kitchen table. "You've done nothing but work lately, but you're not invincible, Jake – get some rest."

I nodded, showing him that I heard, but I doubt he saw me.

Though I was practically about to fall asleep on my feet, I was able to walk through our small house faster than most. I slipped into my bedroom without turning on the light switch and fell onto my bed in exhaustion.

I knew my father was right. I _had_ been working too much lately. But it was the only way to get Bella off of my mind. If I didn't keep my mind preoccupied at all times, I would be doing exactly what I was doing now; lying around in my room and moping about losing Bella to a _leech_.

Just last week had been a blessing. A nomadic bloodsucker had wandered onto our land. I hadn't even been on duty at the time, but I was there within minutes, ready to tear the thing limb from limb, just so I would have something to do. Of course, Sam reminded me that I was supposed to be using my time off to catch up on sleep for my _next _shift, but I couldn't sleep – not unless I was exhausted to the point of collapsing.

And now, I realized with satisfaction, I was finally tired enough to fall straight to sleep.

Wearily, I pulled myself up into a sitting position and unbuttoned my pants. I slipped out of them, wearing nothing but my boxers to bed, and then climbed back on top of my bed sheets, dropping my head onto my pillow.

I felt the lack of sleep seem to catch up with me all at once. I wrapped my arms around the pillow beneath my head, lying face down on my mattress, and quickly started to drift in and out of sleep.

Once or twice, an image of Bella floated into my mind, but I knew not to try and change my thoughts. If I just let it happen – if I just let Bella stay on my mind without fighting it – I would get to sleep sooner.

She waved to me, laughing with that musical voice of hers. Immediately, I ran up to her, wrapping my arms around her waist and spinning her around in the air. I started laughing as well, elated to see her once again.

And then she stopped laughing as I set her down, and I leaned in to kiss her. It was exactly how I remembered it – her lips moving against mine, the slight shudder as I ran my hand down her spine, and then she pulled away, gasping for breath.

This was my favorite – well, fantasy, I guess. Just her and I, together. It had never really happened like this – it had never been that easy, but I longed for it to be reality.

I sighed, fully aware that I was seconds away from an uninterrupted sleep. Every muscle in my body seemed to be sinking deeper into the springs of my bed.

My fantasy continued as I hugged Bella, locking my arms securely around her waist. She buried her face into my chest, as she did every time she hugged me. I allowed a small smile to cover my face, recalling the way that she had never quite been tall enough to reach my shoulder. Then I looked past her shoulder.

My insides seized up.

Edward Cullen was staring at us.

My eyes jerked opened in surprise. I started to breathe heavily, realizing that my wonderful dream had instantly turned into a nightmare.

With an annoyed sigh, I sat up and rubbed my eyes, knowing it was no use trying to get to sleep _now_. Not after a thought like _that_.

I stood up and started to pace back and forth around my small bedroom, just as awake as I had been before trying to sleep.

_Just sleep!_ I commanded myself. _You haven't slept properly in days – just go to bed already!_

I had even resorted to smacking myself repeatedly in the forehead because I was so irritated with my odd behavior. "_Dammit_, Jake," I growled in frustration. "Just go to _bed_ already!"

I was seconds away from storming out of the house to go on a late night run when I heard a sudden pounding on my bedroom window.

I spun on my heels, stunned by the sound.

Instantly, I was alert. Who on earth would be knocking on my window? I knew it couldn't be any of the pack members, because they would have just walked in through the front door. All of them were as comfortable with my father just as much as I was. And late night visits weren't entirely out of the ordinary, either.

_Bella_, my mind immediately supplied. _Maybe she finally ditched the bloodsucker_. I quickly grabbed my cut-off jeans that I had left wadded up in a pile in the middle of the floor, and tugged them back on at a lightning pace. I knew I would be far from the truth, but I couldn't find it in myself to discourage my hopeful thoughts.

I hurried over to the window, squinting out into the rain.

"Jake!" The pounding continued and I could just barely make out Embry's face through the pouring rain, pressed against the glass with a look of terror. "Let me in, Jake!"

I frowned, trying to figure out what had happened to cause Embry to act so out of character like this. Normally, he was the upbeat one, trying to make everyone laugh – but now he looked _scared_. This kid fought off _vampires_ for a living – what on earth could make him _this_ scared?

And then I pushed away my nervous thoughts and quickly threw open the window.

"Embry, what happened?" I asked, stepping aside as he threw himself at the opening in the window and squeezed through the small space. I took a closer look at him as he fell to the floor and realized that he had his arms wrapped around his shoulders, as if he were trying to hold himself together.

His posture seemed to bring back a sense of déjà vu. I cringed, remembering when Bella had done the same thing after the Cullen family had deserted her.

Whatever had happened to Embry must have been _bad_.

"What's wrong?" I asked, lowering my voice and dropping to my knees in front of him. I realized that he was shaking so badly that his figure was blurring. He was on the verge of phasing.

His voice came out in a strangled whisper. "Calm me down," he gasped, rocking back and forth on his knees without looking up at me. "I can't phase, Jake," he told me in an urgent, raspy breath. The rain that had been absorbed by his hair was now dripping steadily down his bare back, easily sliding over his warm skin to the floor in a great puddle that was now surrounding him.

I stared at him, somewhat horrified. What was _happening_? "What – why – "

"Just _do_ it," Embry hissed, cutting me off.

I stopped fighting with him and started to talk. "You know, I found an old car in the junk yard today – someone just _left_ it there. So, I managed to get it towed to my house – it's out in the garage, now, if you want to go see it. I mean – it'll need a new engine, of course, but it's nothing we couldn't fix up over the next year, right? Maybe, if you like it enough, I might give it to you for your birthday if you…"

I trailed off, watching as Embry slowly started to stop shaking. He dropped his hands to the floor in front of him so that he was kneeling on all fours. I wondered if he could even stand at the moment – he looked like he was about to pass out.

I let out a small sigh of relief and leaned back on my knees, glad that my speech had calmed Embry enough so that he didn't phase in the house. Slowly, he glanced up with a guilty expression on his face and let out a shuddering sigh.

"Thanks," he muttered, sitting back on his knees as well. He put his head in his hands, groaning slightly. He removed his shaking hands, shooting me a weak attempt at a grateful smile. "I really needed that."

I smiled, slapping him on the shoulder. "What are brothers for?" I asked.

Embry paled, cringing at my touch.

"Don't – don't say that," he whispered, staring down at the ground with a glazed expression.

"Don't say what?" I asked, confused. I started to pull my hand back as I replayed through our conversation.

And then it hit me.

Brothers – he didn't want me to say _brothers_.

"Embry," I started in a soft voice, "did you talk to your mom about – about your _dad_?"

With his eyes glued to the floor, Embry slowly started to nod.

I felt all of the blood drain out of my face – I must have looked as pale as a leech at that moment.

I couldn't breathe, finding it almost impossible to do once I realized why it was that Embry had arrived at my house in a fit of rage. For months, the pack had been speculating, trying to figure out who Embry's real father was. We had all known ever since he first phased into a wolf that his father had to have been one of the pack member's fathers, because everyone in the pack had to be somehow related. Embry's mother hadn't been from the Quileute tribe – so that meant that his father must have been either Sam's, Quil's, or mine.

My breathing started to pick up once I realized what must have happened. _Embry found out who his real father was – and came to see me._ The puzzle pieces seemed to be coming together. _It's my dad._ I realized. _My dad – my own father – he cheated on my mom_, I realized with a sick feeling of dread filling my stomach.

"So…" I started, trying to find the right words to say. I lifted myself back onto my feet, crossing the room. _It's just Embry_, I tried to tell myself. _We're practically brothers anyway – this shouldn't change anything._

But I couldn't help but feel betrayed by my own father.

I stopped moving. With a sigh of resignation, I turned back to my best friend and put on a blank expression as I bravely waited to hear the truth. "Did she – did you find out?" I asked, stumbling over my words. I paused, collecting my thoughts, and spoke again. "Do you know who your dad is?"

_Please don't say mine – _please_ don't say mine…_

"Yeah," Embry said with a nod. He looked up from the floor, staring at me with a vacant expression. "It's Sam," he whispered. "His dad – is _my_ dad."

Even though I knew how horrible my reaction to this news must have looked to Embry, I closed my eyes and sighed in relief. I even let out a soft, "Thank _god_…"

Embry overheard my comment, but he didn't seem upset by it. "I knew it wasn't you," he told me, shaking his head. "Your dad never would have done that to your mom."

I smiled, glad to hear him say that. "Thanks, man."

Embry shrugged his shoulders as if it were no big deal. I started to grin, finally recognizing the old Embry – the _happy_ Embry.

I walked back across the room and dropped onto the corner of my bed. I was more than exhausted by now. Not only was I running on just a few hours of sleep from the past several nights, but one of the many pack mysteries had just been solved, sending my mind reeling.

But I doubted it would help get me to sleep any sooner.

"So why did you come here?" I asked, watching as Embry slowly got his feet and made his way over to the chair at my desk in the corner of the room. "Shouldn't you be telling Sam all of this instead of me?"

Embry stared at me in horror. His face paled and he seemed to look as if he were choking on something. "Jake – are you _insane_?" He stared at me as if I had lost half of my brain. "You _saw_ me just now – I couldn't control myself!" He swallowed. "If _I_ can't even handle the information – how do you think _Sam_ is going to react?" Embry's jaw hung open, searching for the right words to say. "What am I supposed to _say_ to him?" he asked. "That his father had an affair with _my_ mother – he isn't really an only child – and _I'm _his brother?" Embry leaned back in the chair, shaking his head. "No way."

"Embry," I started in a soft tone. "We all knew before that your dad had to be one of ours," I told him. I kept my gaze on the ground, finding it easier to remind Embry of this information without looking into his face. "Sam won't be upset."

"No," Embry cut in, louder than he had expected. He jumped to his feet, sped across the room to the window, as if he were about to leave, and then seemed to think twice about it. He hurried back to his seat and sat down again. "Look – Sam's _alpha_," he said, lowering his voice. "I mean – I knew if I was related to you or Quil, there'd be no problems. I've been friends with you guys my entire _life_. But Sam?" He shook his head. "Jake – six months ago, we _hated_ Sam. Now I'm his _brother_?"

"We're all brothers _anyway_," I said, careful not to raise my tone. I didn't want Embry to think that I was trying to attack him – I just wanted him to think _logically_. "You can't tell me that there's a single person in the pack that would be upset to have you as a brother," I pointed out. "Not even Paul."

I watched as Embry's knee started to bounce up and down – a nervous habit of his. He must have run his hand through his sopping wet hair about a dozen times before he finally looked back at me with a helpless expression.

"Sam's eventually going to find out," I told him, trying my best not to upset Embry. "One of these days, you're going to have to phase – and he'll hear your thoughts."

Embry took in a deep breath and exhaled, dropping his shoulders in the process. He let his elbows rest on his knees before answering. "I know," he whispered, avoiding eye contact. "That's why I came here when I thought I was about to phase," he told me. "Sam's out on patrol right now – but I _just_ found out," he quickly added, as if this were reason enough for his actions. "I need to have a chance to process it myself before I tell him."

And then, realizing how much this secrecy meant to Embry, I nodded, showing him that I understood.

"Sure," I said, smiling. I studied Embry's pensive expression for a moment and suddenly sprang to my feet. "Come on."

Embry looked up, surprised by my actions. "Come on, what?" he asked blankly. "What are you doing?" His knee started to bob up and down once more as he grew agitated. "You're not going to find Sam, are you?"

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my bare chest. "No," I scoffed. Then I nodded towards the window that I had accidentally left open. I realized that there would probably be a bit of water damage to the carpet beneath the window by now – but it didn't seem to matter at the moment. "Let's go out for awhile," I said. "Maybe we could just walk down the street a few blocks. You know," I elaborated, "just to clear our minds." I raised my eyebrows. "What do you say?"

That familiar grin appeared on Embry's face as he nodded. "Absolutely," he agreed without hesitation. He started for the window, about to climb back out the same way he had gotten inside, but he paused, stepping back. "Hey, Jake?"

I frowned, puzzled. "Yeah?"

Embry chewed on his bottom lip as he spoke. "Um… What you said about that car – you know, when you were trying to calm me down." I nodded, urging him to continue. "Did you really mean it?" he asked with a hint of hope. "Did you really find a new car to work on?"

I let out a small chuckle. "Sorry, man," I apologized. "I only made up that story to calm you down." I shrugged. "It was the first thing I could think of."

Embry's face fell slightly, but he looked as if he had been expecting that answer. "I thought so," he muttered. "But, hey!" he quickly interjected, playfully hitting my stomach with the back of his hand. "How _awesome_ would that have been, huh? A new car to put back together? I kind-of missed working on the Rabbit."

I grinned, relieved to see the old Embry back. "That definitely would have been something."

* * *

"Do you think we look the same?"

I was interrupted from my thoughts, surprised by Embry's sudden question. "You mean you and Sam?" I asked, trying to hide my smile at the hilarity of the question.

Embry nodded, staring at his bare feet as he walked. Every now and then, he would purposefully jump into a puddle of standing water.

I didn't blame him for what looked like childish behavior. The rain was the only thing that ever properly cooled us down. It would hit our shoulders and drip down, over our shoulder blades, cooling us off as we walked. It also tended to evaporate just a bit sooner than it would on any normal human being, leaving us cool and refreshed, but not quite soaked to the core.

"Well, I think you're both…" I squinted, trying to think of some sort of trait that would tie them together. "Um – tall?"

Embry looked at me in disbelief, trying to figure out if I was joking or not. I cracked a smile and he started to laugh.

"Right," Embry said with a shake of his head. "We're both tall… because I don't have that in common with _any_ of the other pack members…"

I chuckled. Slowly, I turned my head towards the sky, smiling as the rain hit my face. "I don't know," I said with a sigh. "Maybe you have the same nose, or something."

Embry laughed at my comment, but his laughter died away faster than was normal for him. He was quiet. I jumped at the chance to calm his nerves.

"You know it doesn't really matter, don't you?" I said, turning to glance at Embry. "I mean – we're all brothers anyway, right. What your mom does or doesn't say won't change that." I threw an arm around his shoulders. "You're still the same guy, Embry."

A smile crept onto his face. He glanced up at me. "I know," he said. "It's just – now I know the truth. I mean – " He seemed at a loss for words. He put one hand up to his hair, scratching the back of his head. "After years of waiting to find out the truth – I _finally_ know who my father is." He started to laugh in disbelief. "I just wish it wasn't _Sam's_ dad. I can't stand how he's going to think of his own _father_ after I tell him what he did."

I let out a booming laugh at Embry's comment. "His dad was a _bum_," I reminded him with a chuckle. "He was never around when Sam was growing up. And then when Sam phased for the first time, his dad just _disappeared_. He hasn't seen him in years!" I clapped him once on the shoulder and dropped my hand back to my side. "I don't think the image of his father is going to change at all, Embry." I snorted, smirking. "I mean – _you've_ heard Sam's thoughts about his dad, haven't you?"

"Yeah," Embry grumbled, nodding in agreement. "I know you're right – but that doesn't make me any less worried to _tell_ Sam."

"Yeah, well…" I looked away, stuffing my hands into the pockets of my jeans. I didn't seem to be doing a very good job of cheering Embry up – he kept dwelling on the worst possible scenarios. If I was in his mind at this very moment, I knew _exactly_ what he would be worrying about – Sam blaming Embry for his father's mistakes. Or maybe he was thinking that Sam would never speak to him again. I just hoped that his mind hadn't gone so far as to believe that Sam might possibly throw him out of the pack, taking away the only friends and family that he's ever known. Of course, I knew Sam would never do this – but that wouldn't stop Embry from worrying about the possibility of it.

I was about to give Embry another reason why he shouldn't be worried when he spoke first.

"Hey," he said, pointing across the street at a convenience store sitting on the corner. "Let's go grab a soda."

I immediately agreed, going along with whatever Embry wanted to do.

We jogged across the empty street, passing through the light of a street lamp in the process. I stopped in front of a soda machine and put in a dollar bill and a few coins. I jabbed one of the buttons and heard a satisfying _thunk_ as my drink rolled to the bottom. I turned to Embry. "What did you want?" I asked.

He shrugged, looking at his choices. "How about something _without_ caffeine," he muttered. "I'll have enough trouble getting to sleep tonight as it is."

I pressed a button, silently agreeing with him as my thoughts started to shift back to a certain dark-haired, brown-eyed girl. _Tell me about it…_

I leaned over to scoop up the two bottles, handing one to Embry. I unscrewed the lid, about to press the cold drink to my lips, but paused when I saw Embry's motion.

He lifted his drink into the air. "To half-brothers," he announced with a false air of sophistication. He tossed back his drink to take a large swig, nearly downing half the bottle in one gulp.

I mimicked his stance, holding up my own bottle. "To forgetting about Bella."

Embry nodded and made a noise in the back of his throat, understanding my dilemma. Everyone in the pack knew about my problem anyway – it wasn't as if any of my thoughts were a secret from them.

Embry started to grin as he lifted his drink once more. "To the destruction of all bloodsuckers!" he shouted.

I smirked, holding up my bottle. "Hell, I'll drink to that!"

I took a step away from the machine and turned to an old, wooden bench pushed up against the outside walk of the convenience store. I sat with a small sigh, leaning forward on my elbows with both hands wrapped around my bottle. "What a day," I muttered, not quite sure whether I wanted Embry to hear or not. Then I turned to look up at him. "You know, I haven't had more than three hours of sleep in the past few nights," I told him with a grim expression, swishing the liquid around in my bottle.

"Well, _yeah_," Embry replied, as if this statement were obvious. He laughed. "You've been taking everyone's shift – _obviously_ you're not going to get enough sleep!"

I shook my head. "That's not why," I explained to him. "I mean – I've _had_ time to sleep. I just _can't_."

Embry's thoughts seemed to stray down a different path. "You _did_ take Leah's shift tomorrow morning, didn't you?" he asked, looking nervously over at my spot on the bench.

I nodded.

"Good," he said, turning back to stare out at the pouring rain. "I'm patrolling then, too – and it would have been _hell_ trying to keep things from Leah."

"Yeah," I muttered, realizing with a twinge of annoyance that my shift with Embry the following morning was going to be six hours of nothing but thoughts of Sam and his father. Though, in all fairness, I had to admit that it must get tiring for the rest of the pack to hear nothing but my own thoughts about Bella. "Good thing."

Embry nodded, pressing the mouth of his soda bottle to his lips. He looked out into the empty parking lot of the convenience store, lifting the bottle, but then paused before any of the liquid washed back into his throat.

He lowered the bottle, squinting into the darkness.

I was immediately alert once I spotted Embry's odd behavior. I glanced back and forth between Embry and the place that had grabbed his attention.

"What is it?" I asked, climbing to my feet. I put the lid back on my bottle and held it at my side.

And then a slender figure stepped into the street light. She wasn't very short, but she certainly wasn't very tall. I thought she might have been a few inches taller than Bella, though. I watched, mesmerized by the way she walked. Her jeans clung to her hips in all the right places, swaying with every step she took, and her small t-shirt seemed to just barely cover her midriff.

I allowed my gaze to travel up her frame, taking in her straight, black hair that hung just past her shoulders and her smooth, ivory complexion. And then I looked into her eyes.

I felt as if I had just been sucker punched.

"_Shit_."

* * *

I ran as fast as I could through the trees that surrounded the house, leaving behind Tanya and the Cullen family. I pumped my legs as fast as they could take me, praying that they didn't hear me make my exit. I mean – I that knew Tanya would cover for me, telling the Cullen's that I went to hunt down a few animals, but what if one of the Cullen's saw me and tried to _join_ me? My plan would have been _destroyed_ – I would have been far behind schedule!

I didn't stop moving until I reached the edge of the trees, about to step into the street. I almost didn't stop soon enough. Within seconds, a car flew past at top speed, mere inches from hitting me.

I wouldn't have been hurt, of course. But it would have been slightly awkward trying to explain why I had left a dent in the hood of the car when I should have been sprawled across the pavement, dead.

I looked around the street, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings. It was nearly eleven, I assumed, and, as I had predicted, there was little to no activity in Forks at that time.

Maybe if I was lucky, I could at least find their house.

I lifted my nose into the air, taking in the scent. Other than the smell of the rain that seemed to be coming down with as much force as when we had arrived, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, here. I ran several miles further. Again, I sniffed for any sort of unfamiliar scent, but found nothing.

It wasn't until I had run for nearly twenty minutes that I caught any sort of smell that seemed peculiar. If I hadn't have been searching for this scent, I would have thought that it might have belonged to some sort of an animal – but I knew at once that it wasn't.

It smelled just like Tanya had said it would.

I moved much slower this time. _One's not asleep_, I realized with a hint of excitement. _The trail's fresh – there's been one near here recently._

Soon, I stumbled across an empty parking lot. I looked around, scouting out the surroundings, and realized, with a thrill of excitement, that there were two boys, hovering beside a bench.

I smelled the air one last time, absorbing the faint scent with a smirk.

I jogged at a human pace across the street. I lifted my hands into the air, covering my head as I acted as if I was trying to get out of the rain and beneath some sort of shelter. I watched the two boys' expressions with curiosity as I ran closer, almost as if I was waiting for one of them to start growling at me, but their faces remained blank.

I grinned with pleasure.

They had no idea what I was.

"Hey, there," I greeted them, waving as soon as I stepped beneath the small overhang outside of the store. I walked up to the soda machine and put in some change, smiling at the boys at the same time. "Interesting weather we're having, aren't we?"

The tallest boy was staring at me with his jaw dropped. The shorter one – though not _much_ shorter – laughed at my comment and nodded, looking out at the rain. "You must not be from around here," he said with a smirk.

The pungent smell that rolled off of his breath as he spoke was overwhelming. I grinned.

I had found the werewolf.

"Oh, I'm not," I told them, shaking my head. "I'm just here for the week." I leaned down, picking up my drink, and then turned and pointed in the direction of an old hotel I had passed earlier. "I'm staying at the hotel down the street – I just wanted to step out for awhile," I explained, opening the bottle with a soft fizzing sound. I rolled my eyes in mock annoyance, hoping that it would add to my fictional story. "You know how annoying mothers can get."

The shorter boy – the werewolf – nodded with big eyes. "I know exactly what you mean."

I giggled, putting a hand to my mouth. Then I screwed the cap back onto my soda bottle, hoping that neither of the boys realized that I never actually took a sip of my drink. "My name's Katrina," I introduced myself, extending my hand to the werewolf. "But I go by Kate."

As the werewolf stretched out his hand, I quickly took in the well-defined muscles running along his arms and covering his entire torso. I spotted his jeans, ripped at the knee, and lifted an eyebrow at his odd fashion sense. Then I glanced down at his feet, momentarily surprised to find them without shoes.

I took comfort in the fact that, at least, this wolf seemed to be rather cute, even if his clothes did seem a bit _different_. Maybe this job for Tanya wouldn't be so painful after all.

The werewolf grinned at me. "Embry," he introduced himself.

The moment his hand touched mine, I knew that I had been correct in my assumption. This boy – Embry – was _definitely_ a werewolf. His hand was practically _burning_ against my skin – far more than any human's hand should have. I almost didn't want to have to pull away from this insane amount of heat – it felt so _good_. I knew that if I had closed my eyes at that moment, I could have believed that I could feel the heat of blood pumping through my own veins once more, just from this one handshake.

"Wow," he muttered, staring at our locked hands. He looked back up with a smile and a chuckle. "You're freezing," he commented. "You must have been outside for a lot longer than I thought."

I shrugged, trying to downplay the fact that my skin was ice cold compared to his. "Awhile," I agreed, reluctantly pulling my fingers out of his warm grasp. And then I turned to look at the other boy who was hovering behind Embry's shoulder. I decided not to completely ignore this boy, even though he didn't smell anything like a werewolf. "Hi," I said, peeking around Embry to catch his eyes.

The boy almost started to back away, redirecting his gaze to look down at the ground. Then he stopped his movement and looked up into my eyes – but he didn't smile.

I frowned, incredibly puzzled by this odd behavior. This had never happened to me before – _everyone_ smiled at me! I'd never met anyone who _hadn't_! So why wasn't this boy affected by my power?

"I'm Jake," the boy finally muttered, slowly shuffling forward. He seemed to stare at my hand with unease, possibly debating whether or not to shake it. Then he abruptly thrust his fingers forward to touch mine for less than a second before immediately pulling away.

I dropped my drink.

His fingers – though I had only touched them for half of a second – were just as warm as Embry's. They, too, had sent a jolt of heat through my body. Which only left two options; either these boys were both normal humans and I had been wrong –

Or they were _both_ werewolves.

But that had to be _impossible_. I couldn't smell anything from this second boy – from Jake. I knew that Embry had to be one – the smell wasn't very strong, but there was definitely something there. Embry _was_ a werewolf – but Jake didn't have the same scent!

"Uh…" I couldn't form a coherent sentence. I just stood there with my hand hovering in front of me, staring at the tall boy in a stunned silence. He seemed to be staring right back at me with the same, searching look.

"Right," Embry abruptly cut in, but he didn't seem to have noticed the awkward exchange between me and this – _Jake_. He bent over to pick up my drink that I had dropped as he spoke. "So you said you were from out of town?" he started.

I turned to look at Embry and managed to close my mouth and pull my hand back to my chest. I snatched the bottle back from his hand and slowly nodded, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear and staring at a fixed spot on the ground. "Yeah," I muttered. My mind was still traveling over a hundred miles per hour, so I did what I thought would be best in this situation. "Um – I should really go back, now," I said, pointing in the opposite direction. "My mom is probably freaking out," I lied.

Embry nodded, taking a step towards me as I tried to back away. "Well, we can walk you back to your hotel," he offered, smiling. "If that's alright with you," he quickly added, hoping that he hadn't offended me.

But I immediately shook my head. "No, that's fine, I can find my way back," I assured him. I stepped into the rain. It wasn't coming down as hard as it had been when I first found these boys, but it was enough to soak through my clothes. "Maybe I'll see you later this week, Embry!" I called back. I paused, looking past him to the tall boy, staring at me. I nodded in his direction, acknowledging his presence. "Jake."

Embry was beaming. He took one step too far and was pelted by the rain. He jumped back in surprise, blinking with wide eyes, and then looked back up at me with a slight blush on his cheeks. "Yeah!" he called back. "We might run into each other – we'll have to hang out sometime!"

I turned and ran far away from the boys without a response.

* * *

"Well, she seemed nice."

I blinked, jolting back to reality. I quickly turned my head to face Embry, slowly tearing my eyes away from the place where Kate had just left. "Sure," I muttered, giving Embry a slight nod. "I guess."

Embry turned away from the darkness, glancing over at me with a look of annoyance. "What do you mean you _guess_?" he asked, bothered by my casual comment. "She looks like a great person!"

I nodded again, finding it hard to argue with this statement. I had no doubt that Kate was a _wonderful_ person – but something just didn't seem right. I shook my head, trying to brush off the thoughts about this fascinating girl, and stubbornly crossed my arms over my chest. "Don't you think she seemed a bit – _odd_?"

Again, Embry looked appalled by my words about the girl we had just met. "Why would anything be unusual?" he asked.

"It's just – when we first saw her – you know, before she started talking to us – what did you think?" I asked, hoping I wasn't the only one that spotted this similarity.

Embry shrugged, forgetting to be angry with me for the moment. "Well, she was pretty," he said, smiling slightly as he seemed to drift into a short daydream.

"She was _gorgeous_," I immediately corrected him. I felt my face heat up after admitting this fact, but I tried my best to push these thoughts aside as I attempted to prove my point. "And she was pale," I slowly reminded him. "And _cold_."

Embry blinked, letting these words sink in. Then he turned to me. He didn't look upset by my accusation, but he didn't seem to believe it either. "You think she's a _bloodsucker_?"

I shrugged. "Maybe!" I shouted, throwing my hands up into the air. "I mean – she _could_ be."

Embry slowly started to smile and shake his head, as if he were catching onto a joke. "No," he said with a chuckle. "If she were really a leech, we would have – "

"Smelled her," I finished for him, sighing in frustration. "I know. And believe me," I continued. "I tried, but I got nothing."

Embry wrapped an arm around my shoulders in a one-armed hug. "You're losing it," he told me with a sigh. "You told me _yourself_ that you haven't had much sleep lately!" he said. "I think you're just making this all up, Jake. You're delirious."

I jerked away from Embry's grip and turned to face him with a glare. "Embry, I wouldn't say it if I didn't think that it could be true! I mean – " I broke off as I tried to construct somewhat of a convincing argument to defend my theory. "What if the leeches have found a way to disguise their smell. The Cullen's know we're here – what if they went and told _others_ about the pack's existence?" I paused as I let the horror of the idea slowly spread throughout my body. "Embry – think of how many leeches we would miss if we couldn't smell them anymore."

Finally, Embry started to look uncomfortable at the thought. He glanced out into the rainy night, as if he were expecting to see Kate there, waiting for him. "I don't know," Embry muttered, shaking his head. "I really don't think so – but she _is_ pretty…"

I rolled my eyes and turned around, marching back to the bench. "Yes," I agreed with him. "She's beautiful."

Embry bit his bottom lip. "But she _couldn't_ be," he said, frowning.

I nodded, feeling just as conflicted as Embry. "I know…" I dropped onto the wooden bench and let my head fall into my hands, wishing my life didn't love to play these cruel jokes on me.

Embry turned to face me, his face lighting up. "Maybe we could take her to – " He stopped midsentence, looking queasy. That's what I realized he was about to say Sam.

"The rest of the pack," I finished for him. "Yeah. Maybe."

Embry sauntered back to the bench that I was seated on and sat beside me. He threw back his drink and downed the rest of its contents. "I could always ask her out on a date and bring her to La Push," he said, trying to sound casual about this idea. He lifted his bottle into the air and easily threw it into the garbage can several yards away. "Do you think she'd come? I mean – she says she's just here on vacation for the week – but if she's _not_ a bloodsucker, maybe a few dates would be fun, don't you think?" Embry asked, sporting a grin by the time he had finished speaking.

I felt sudden hatred and revulsion towards my best friend. My fists clenched at my sides and I started to shake. Instantly, I knew something was wrong. I hadn't lost control of my emotions in _months_ – I was always able to remain calm, even in the worst situations – but _now_? Embry was just talking about asking Kate out – and _now_ I was losing control?

_You're being ridiculous_, I tried to convince myself, though I knew it wasn't true. _She's just a girl._

But I couldn't say that to Embry.

"I'm not so sure that would be a good idea," I told him, keeping my gaze locked on my bare feet.

Embry let out a single booming laugh. "You can't still be worried about her being a leech, are you? She would be surrounded by the entire pack, Jake," he reminded me with a smirk. "There's no harm in it!"

I felt as if I wanted to punch him in the face. _You can't go out with her!_ I wanted to scream at him. _Stay away from Kate!_

But I couldn't.

I dropped my, now, empty bottle onto the ground, landing with a hollow _thunk_, and quickly crossed my arms over my chest. I closed my eyes, trying to think of relaxing thoughts.

"Maybe I could – Jake?" I heard the creak of wood as Embry turned on the bench and started to watch me with curiosity. "What's wrong – why are you so upset?" he asked, noticing my blurred form. "Jake, calm down," he said in an urgent whisper. "There could be people watching."

This seemed to do the trick. My breathing slowly returned to normal.

"You alright?" he asked. I glanced up from my feet and looked into his concerned expression. "You don't look so good."

_Of course I don't look good_, I wanted to hiss at him. _You're thinking about asking Kate out._

"I'm fine," I told him in a gruff, flat tone. "I'm just – I think – I don't know," I finished with a sigh. Then I hunched over in my seat, staring at the cement pavement once more. I felt as if I was about to be sick – like I was about to lose my dinner.

I gagged, about to hurl, but nothing came out. My stomach was already empty.

I closed my eyes, listening to Embry as he kept up a constant stream of chatter. It wasn't until he mentioned Kate once more that something seemed to click.

This girl – Kate – the one that I thought was a vampire –

_I think I just imprinted on her_.

* * *

**Author's Note: Interesting stuff... If you're confused, the next chapter should clear most of the questions up! Also - keep an eye out for at least one more update before Breaking Dawn! (Maybe two if you're lucky!)**

**Yours truly,  
Amelia Bedelia**


	4. Twenty Questions

**Author's Note: It's probably obvious... But this is my last update until Breaking Dawn! (TONIGHT! WOO!) Just a heads up as well... Anything that happens later on in this story is what I already planned BEFORE Breaking Dawn came out, so I don't plan on changing anything after I read the book. (I think that'd be kind-of hard to do with this story, anyway...)**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter Four: Twenty Questions**

When I woke up today, I was much more at ease than I had been the morning before.

It was probably because Edward was still lying with me.

"Good morning," he whispered when I started to move. I quickly turned in his arms so that I was facing him.

"Hello," I mumbled, opening my eyes in a squint as I tried to look up at the god lying in my bed without getting blinded by the light spilling in through the window. "You're still here."

"Of course I am," he responded with that adorable crooked smile of his.

I grinned as Edward leaned down and kissed the tip of my nose and then moved in once more to kiss me on the lips.

I sighed, pressing myself into Edward's chest as I let myself get accustomed to the bright light shining in through my window. I touched my hand to Edward's, watching with fascination as it sparkled beneath mine.

"I hope the sun doesn't stop shining," I muttered, lacing my fingers through Edward's. He tore his gaze away from the window and looked at me with a quizzical expression.

"Why?" he asked, frowning. "I can't go outside unless it's cloudy," he gently pointed out, probably trying to figure out if I had completely lost my marbles.

I smirked and nodded. "I know," I replied in a lofty voice. "You would just have to stay in here with me _all day_."

The puzzled expression was wiped off of Edward's face as he let out a soft chuckle. "Oh, you're clever, Bella," he said with a hint of sarcasm. "Unfortunately," he added, "Alice said it should be cloudy in about ten minutes."

I didn't let the disappointment sink in that I wouldn't be able to keep Edward in bed for longer than ten minutes. Instead, I focused on another part of his statement. "You talked to Alice?"

He nodded, letting out a heavy sigh. "She called to let me know she'd stop by as soon as she could."

I yawned. "Why is she coming over?" I asked. "Did Tanya take her power, too?"

I had meant for my question to be a joke, but Edward didn't laugh. Instead, he shook his head. "Not yet," he muttered, looking back out the window.

I frowned. Then I reached over and wrapped my hands around Edward's middle and kissed the underside of his jaw. "It'll be fine," I tried to reassure him. "Don't worry about it."

Edward glanced down at me with an apologetic look. "You must be tired of hearing me complain about Tanya."

I shook my head, pressing it into Edward's shoulder. "As long as you don't say you love her more than me, I'm fine with it."

Edward rolled his eyes at the lunacy of this possibility. "Right," he muttered, turning so that he was facing me. He continued creeping closer, hovering just above me as I giggled. "Do you really think I could love anyone but you?"

I tried to laugh and respond playfully to Edward's comment, but I couldn't. Something about his close proximity was causing me to lose my breath. "Um… no?" My voice cracked as I spoke.

Edward just smiled and lowered his face to mine. He paused for a moment and I could feel his cool, sweet breath rush over me, making me dizzy, and then he kissed me.

Now, normally, I get along really well with Alice. Sometimes she gets to be a little too upbeat for my taste, and occasionally her know-it-all personality can be a little annoying.

But it's times like _these_ when I really hate her.

"Edward, stop snacking on Bella!" she loudly interrupted, announcing her presence to the room. I heard my bedroom door slam closed behind her and groaned.

Edward smiled against my lips and slowly pulled away. He looked down at me with an amused expression and then rolled off of me and back onto his side of the bed.

"_Dammit_, Alice," I growled, sitting straight up. I would have to remind Charlie to invest in a security system. I threw my bed sheets off of my legs and climbed to my feet. "Why do you always have to barge in like that?"

I knew that Alice's smile was still plastered on her face, unfazed by my anger. "What?" she asked, playing dumb. "You mean just when it was getting good?"

I was facing my closet, picking out my clothes for the day, but I knew that both of them could see the blush on the back of my neck, clearly giving away my embarrassment.

I felt a cool pair of hands sneak up behind me. They carefully trailed down my spine, stopping at my waist, and then snaked around to my front. I was pulled back into Edward's chest as he hugged me close to him.

"She's just jealous," he whispered into my ear.

"No, I'm _not_," Alice quickly argued back, but I didn't seem to hear any of her words as Edward started to kiss his way down the side of my neck.

He slowly pulled away with a final kiss beneath my earlobe. "Go ahead and get dressed," he told me.

I nodded, afraid to use my voice, and darted to the bathroom to shower.

In record time, I showered, dressed, and dried my hair. Edward almost looked surprised that I was back so soon.

Almost.

"Hey," he greeted me as I quickly walked across the room to his side. He was sitting on the edge of my bed, speaking in hushed tones with Alice. "That was fast."

"Yeah," I agreed. He reached out and snatched my waist, easily maneuvering me onto his lap. I looked up into his face. "What were you two talking about?"

Edward uneasily looked up at Alice and then back down at me. "Tanya," he admitted, sighing in frustration. "Again."

My own gaze darted up towards Alice. "What did she do this time?" I asked. And then, in the nastiest tone I could produce, I muttered, "Kiss Jasper?"

Alice smiled at my comment, understanding my resentment towards Tanya. "No," she said, appearing somewhat apologetic. Edward sensed my unease and hugged me closer to his chest. "Actually, she hasn't done anything."

My jaw dropped of its own accord. "She hasn't _done_ anything?"

Edward quickly corrected his sister's statement. "She hasn't done anything since last night, at least."

I was almost fuming by this point. "Did you know that she took away Edward's mind-reading powers?" I asked, taking out my frustration on Alice.

Alice simply nodded. She didn't even bat an eyelash as I lashed out at her. "Yeah, we figured that out," she told me. "Carlisle hasn't said anything, since Tanya and Kate are still at the house and he doesn't want them to overhear, but I think he's a little suspicious, as well."

"A _little_?" I repeated.

"Well…" Alice hesitantly looked over at Edward as she defended Tanya. "I can understand why she might feel uncomfortable when someone is constantly invading your private and personal thoughts."

Edward rolled his eyes, as if he had heard this conversation one too many times before. "It's not like I _asked_ for it," he argued. "And I try to let you all have your own privacy as much as I can."

"_I_ know that," Alice immediately fought back. "But _Tanya_ doesn't know that."

I could _feel_ the growl building in Edward's chest before I heard it in the back of his throat. "She didn't care last time," he quickly pointed out. "When I was in Denali, she didn't care that I could read her mind _then_!"

Alice held up a hand, gesturing for Edward to calm down. "I know," she repeated herself. "You don't have to defend yourself to me, Edward – _I believe you_."

I pressed my hand flat against Edward's chest, grabbing his attention. He quickly looked down at me, dropping his furious expression, but his breath was still coming out in short, quick puffs of air.

"I'm sorry," he finally whispered, reaching up to cover my hand with his. "It's just – she's so – "

"I know," I sympathized with him.

Alice took a step back so that she was pressed up against my desk. She lightly hopped onto a cleared spot, daintily crossing one leg over the other and folding her arms across her chest. "I've had to deal with this before," Alice pointed out. "With the werewolves, remember?"

I ignored the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach at the mention of werewolves and nodded. "Right," I said. "You couldn't see them in your visions – it was just blank."

Alice lifted an eyebrow and smirked, glancing over at Edward. "If I could handle it, then so can you."

Edward shook his head hesitantly. "But it's not really the same thing, _Alice_."

Alice rolled her eyes. "Well, you're not going to get much closer than that, _Edward_."

"Agree to disagree," I softly interjected, glancing back and forth between the two vampires. No matter how old they were – I knew they would always behave just like siblings.

"Fine," Alice immediately complied with my request. "But you two have to come back to the house." She narrowed her eyes at Edward. "Carlisle, Esme, and Rosalie left to go hunting this morning – they made Jasper, Emmett, and I stay behind to give Tanya and Kate some company while they're gone," she said as she wrinkled her nose in disgust. "And it just _wouldn't_ be fair if you got to hide at Bella's the whole time without being tortured along with the rest of us…"

I knew Alice was trying to guilt Edward into going back with her, but I had a feeling she might need to persuade _me_ just a bit more than _him_.

"Uh…" I looked up into Edward's expression, hoping he would remain set in his decision not to return. "No, I don't think so," I told her. "I mean – we already met them once, right? And we'll see them at the wedding…"

Alice turned her glare on me, probably trying to get me to shut my mouth without her having to use brute force.

"You don't want to go back?" Edward asked, turning his head so that he was looking directly at me.

"What – do _you_?" I nearly shrieked, disbelief evident in my voice.

Edward frowned, staring at a point past my head before answering. "Well, _no_, not really," he confessed. "But I think it's the polite thing to do."

"_Polite_?" I squeaked. "Edward – Tanya _hates_ me." I glanced frantically back and forth between the two Cullen's. "Don't you think she might try to _kill_ me if she had the chance?" I asked, somewhat frantic by this point.

Edward glanced wordlessly up to Alice who shook her head. "Well, she's not planning on it," she told me. "I've been trying to keep an eye on both Tanya and Kate since they got here, but there isn't anything out of the ordinary."

I scoffed at this statement, but felt somewhat assured by it nonetheless. "They're not doing anything?" I asked.

Alice shrugged. "All I've seen is Tanya and Kate at our place. _Well_." She waved her hand, as if she were brushing off her last comment. "And, of course, they'll go hunting. But other than that, there's really nothing out of the ordinary."

Edward spoke up. "But you'll keep watching," he said, looking pointedly at Alice.

She nodded. "Of course." Alice glanced down at my worried expression and relaxed into a friendly smile. "If it helps at all, I think Kate's going to go to a hotel."

This comment puzzled me. I looked over at Edward to see if he knew anything about this but he seemed as thrown off as I had been. "Why?" I asked.

Alice shrugged. "Not sure," she admitted. "I mean – I know she went to a hotel last night. She might just be a bit more tempted by your blood than Tanya is. At least, that's what I'm assuming since that's why she left in the first place."

Edward looked _furious_.

"Kate is having such a hard time being around Bella that she needed to go to a _hotel_?" he repeated, eyes wide. His protective grip around my waist tightened as his eyes frantically darted around the room, probably expecting Kate to jump out at any minute.

And then he opened his mouth and said the last thing I ever expected to hear cross those angelic lips.

"_Shit_."

I was too stunned to say another word. My jaw dropped and my eyes doubled in size, trying to process what Edward had said.

"What?" Alice asked, unfazed by Edward's exclamation. "What's wrong with that? She was hunting all night and rented a hotel room – isn't that a _good_ thing?"

Edward jumped up so fast that I thought I was about to go flying through the air, but he caught me around the waist before I did. He gently placed me back on the floor as he stormed forward, stopping directly in front of Alice.

"It's one thing to be attracted to Bella's scent when I can hear their thoughts," Edward hissed. His hands were balled up at his side and shaking in his fury. He looked as if he were about to punch his sister, but Alice remained motionless on the desk with her arms still crossed. She even cocked her head to the side, as if she was purposefully trying to remain calm, just to get on Edward's nerves. "With James, I knew that he would try to attack at the baseball game," Edward pointed out, "because I could hear his thoughts. With Jasper – " Alice flinched, unable to keep her composure for this example " – I knew that he would try to attack at our house. _Because I could hear his thoughts_."

Alice finally averted her gaze, realizing the issue, now.

"If Bella so much as gets a splinter and Kate is attracted to the smell of fresh blood – _I couldn't stop her if I wanted to_!"

"Now, that's not true," Alice countered. She almost looked frightened by Edward's negative spin on her supposed "good news". "You don't need to read minds to protect Bella."

Edward took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down from his rant. He turned to face me and immediately dropped his livid expression.

He was by my side in seconds, pulling me into his chest.

Although I was unable to move from his strong grip, I managed to ask, "Do we still have to go back, now?"

Edward chuckled, lifting the heavy mood that had filled the room. Alice's stiff posture relaxed. "We'll go for a bit," he said. "But you aren't leaving my side."

"I already promised you that I wouldn't," I mumbled into his shirt as a smile spread across my face.

"Good," he responded, gently stroking my hair.

"Right," Alice said, blowing out a great puff of air from the corner of her mouth. She easily jumped off of my desk and landed silently on her feet. "Now that we've solved _that_ problem… Are you going to come back _now_? The sun will be back out in a few minutes and we should really leave while we have the chance."

I nodded, watching through my window as the clouds threatened to disperse and let the sun shine through. Reluctantly, I followed Edward out of my bedroom, down the stairs, and into the kitchen.

"By the way," Alice added as Edward snatched my car keys before I could. "There was definitely a werewolf on your property, Bella."

I frowned, glancing up at Edward. I hadn't seen or even _heard_ from any of the wolves from the pack at La Push in _weeks_.

"_What_?" I replied, oh-so-intelligently.

"Outside," Alice responded, wrinkling her nose as I opened the front door. I noticed that Charlie's cruiser wasn't sitting in its usual spot on the driveway, meaning that he had already left for work this morning. "Of course – don't mind the fact that they're on _our_ land and have, technically, broken the treaty…"

I ignored Alice's ramblings. The treaty between the wolves and the vampires had always been strictly enforced – but after my friendship with the werewolves, my house had quickly turned into neutral territory. Both vampires and werewolves alike were allowed in my home – though it seemed unusual to have a visit from a werewolf after our fallout a few months ago…

"Why?" I asked, looking around my front yard as if I was expecting a werewolf to jump out of one of my neighbor's bushes. "Who was it?"

Alice didn't say anything. Instead, she pointed at the mailbox at the end of our driveway. "I'd check there," she told me. "It smells the worst."

I threw a confused expression over my shoulder at Edward and Alice before cautiously stepping forward to open the mailbox.

Inside was a single slip of paper. I pulled it out of the dark space and examined it closer, realizing that it was one of the wedding invitations that Alice had sent out at the beginning of the summer.

"What is this…?" I trailed off, staring down at the paper. I flipped it over, startled by the messy writing scrawled on the back of it.

_Sorry. Can't make it._

_Jake_

My shoulders slumped forward and my insides contracted uneasily as I read and re-read the card's contents.

"Jake?" I muttered, staring at the name on the bottom of the card. I blinked several times, processing the meaning of the card before turning and looking up at Edward who had just joined me. "You invited Jake?"

Edward did not look surprised by my accusation. He kept his hands at his side instead of reaching out to touch me as he normally did whenever we were in such a close proximity to each other. His face remained impassive and composed.

"Yes," he finally answered.

I closed my eyes, wishing I hadn't heard the word. But, try as I might, I couldn't ignore his confession. With an exhausted sigh, I whispered, "_Why_?"

Edward did not move whatsoever as he explained his reasoning behind inviting Jake to our wedding. "Because I knew you would have wanted to give him the choice."

I shook my head, incredibly frustrated. I hadn't been this upset with Edward in months. "But I _told_ you not to!"

Edward's gaze dropped to the ground. He almost looked apologetic. "If it had been me – I would have wanted to know you still cared."

I crumpled up the wedding invitation in my fit of fury and threw it on the ground. I started to stomp away, ignoring Edward's hurt expression, before immediately turning right around to argue back with him. "Well, what if I _don't_ care?" I shouted at him, knowing that it was a complete lie. "I mean – there was a _reason_ I didn't invite him – _right_?"

Edward did not say anything. Alice, who had been standing by my truck, remained silent as well. I wanted to shake them both – to yell and scream in their faces, just to get a reaction, but I knew it wouldn't do me any good.

"Alright, _fine_," I muttered, walking back to Edward with my eyes locked on his shirt instead of gazing up into his expression. I crossed my arms over my chest. "I still care about him," I admitted, though Edward didn't appear surprised. "But I didn't want to hurt him." Then I glanced up into his understanding expression and felt my arms drop weakly to my side, unable to put up a fight any longer. "And I guess I'm glad you still sent him an invitation."

After my awkward apology, Edward casually stepped forward and hugged me, as if nothing had happened. Then he whispered, "I know."

Bound and determined to leave this mess behind me, I quickly pulled out of his arms and dragged him over to my truck. "Let's just get this visit over with, shall we?"

Edward smiled, juggling my car keys back and forth between his hands as he circled the car. "Agreed."

* * *

Patrol this morning was particularly excruciating. Normally, it would consist of me trying to think of anything _but_ Bella while the other wolf on duty would constantly complain about how annoying it was to work with me.

But today, there were almost no thoughts of Bella.

Any other time, I would have been relieved to know that I had finally found some way to avoid obsessing over the girl who had been plaguing my thoughts for several months – but the thing that concerned me was that I had replaced Bella with another girl.

No, not just some other girl.

With _Kate_.

The only reason why my sudden change didn't seem to draw any suspicion was the fact that Embry's thoughts were mirroring my own.

_She was so nice. And pretty. Really pretty. How old do you think she is? She couldn't be more than seventeen – eighteen tops._

_Seventeen_, my thoughts automatically supplied without a chance for me to abstain from answering.

_Yeah, probably seventeen. Maybe she's sixteen – do you think? But she looks too mature to be that young, though, right?_

I stared at the green scenery as I ran past, actually trying, for the first time in several months, to think of Bella on _purpose_.

_Bella. I love Bella_, I forced myself to think. _She's beautiful – with that wavy, brown hair_, I tried to convince myself. But then, before I could list anymore traits about her that I liked, my mind seemed to speak for itself. _But it's not nearly as nice as black hair._

Embry's response was immediate. _I know, it's nice_, he said, ignoring my strange thoughts. _I think I'm going to ask her out_.

I was caught so off guard by this thought that I didn't have time to be upset. _Kate?_ I confirmed. _You're going to ask Kate out? Why are you doing that? What if you don't find her? Besides, she's only here for a week!_

Embry easily answered the questions I had bombarded him with. _There's only one hotel in town, Jake_, he reminded me with a short _dumbass_ tagged onto the end of the sentence, though I was sure he didn't intend for me to hear that piece of his thoughts. _She'll be in the area. I just have to keep an eye out for her._

_Well, when are you going to ask her_? I couldn't hold back the question before it spilled forward.

_After our shift, I guess. I was hoping to bring her to a bonfire tonight. We could take her to Sam to – dammit, I forgot about Sam – I haven't talked to him since I found out we were brothers. But we have a shift together tomorrow – he'll find out sooner or later, Jake. I need to tell him – it'll probably have to be tonight, won't it? God, I don't want to tell him. Shit, what am I going to do?_

Though I wasn't glad to hear where Embry's thoughts had traveled this time – I knew the last few hours of our shift would be filled with his worries about Sam – I was certainly rather relieved to not have them concentrated on Kate any longer.

* * *

Edward tensed in the driver's seat, gripping tighter onto the wheel. He glanced over at Alice and me in the seat beside him before groaning.

"Tanya's still here," he muttered, staring openly at Alice. He watched her for a moment, as if trying to read her mind, and then he cringed and turned back to the road.

"Course she's still here," Alice muttered, shaking her head. "That's why we came back to the house in the first place. So you could have a _pleasant_ conversation with her," Alice reminded him, stressing the word "pleasant".

Edward merely stared straight ahead as his lips tightened into a straight line.

Far sooner than I had hoped, we arrived at the Cullen's house. Alice hopped out of my truck and ran up to the house the moment the vehicle was in park, but Edward and I seemed to wait a beat before exiting.

My slow shuffle up to the front porch normally would have bothered Edward, but he didn't seem to mind the pace. In fact, he was practically setting the pace, moving slower and slower as we got closer to the door.

No matter how hard we tried to prolong the inevitable, we eventually entered the house, hovering nervously in the doorway.

I watched as Edward did a quick check around the room, probably searching for any sign of Kate, and then wrapped his arm protectively around my waist.

"They're upstairs," he muttered under his breath, but his eyes did not stop darting back and forth. "They're all in Alice's room."

"I thought you said you couldn't hear their thoughts," I whispered as we moved up the circular staircase. I was trying to lower my voice so that no one could hear it, but I was sure that whatever I said would be no secret to anyone in the Cullen house.

Finally, Edward's protective exterior broke and he let slip a tiny smile. "That doesn't mean I can't hear their voices."

"Oh." I dropped my eyes to the ground, blushing. "Right."

"Edward?"

I had been expecting Tanya to be the first to say something the moment we were close enough to Alice's room, but, to my surprise, Emmett had been the first to speak.

"Yeah?" Edward responded, climbing the last stair. He gently guided me into Alice's colorful room by pressing his cool hand to the middle of my back. "What is it?"

Emmett was lounging on a wooden chair. His hands were locked behind his head in a laid-back pose and his feet were kicked up onto Jasper's desk. In the corner of the room, Jasper was hovering just beside Alice, glaring half-heartedly at Emmett. I had the suspicion that he had already tried once before to ask Emmett to move his feet off of his desk, but it didn't look like that conversation seemed to have worked the way Jasper would have wanted it to.

"Good morning," Emmett sang in a cheery tone, sounding almost Alice-like. He grinned.

I glanced up at Edward, wondering if I had missed something, but Edward seemed just as taken aback as I was. "Good morning, Emmett," he greeted his brother. "Why are you in such a good mood?"

Emmett scoffed. "Why would you assume that I was in a good mood – _just_ because I was being polite."

Edward lifted an eyebrow as if the answer were obvious. "Because you're never polite."

I chuckled at this comment, unable to find the situation anything but hilarious.

"Well, _Edward_," Emmett continued, dropping his feet onto the floor with a dull thud. Jasper growled softly as a stack of papers – rather important looking documents – floated to the floor. "It just so happens that Tanya and I were having an interesting conversation before you got here."

My eyes immediately flicked over to the small couch pushed up against the opposite wall where Tanya had been sitting silently, staring at Edward and me up until that point. Now, she gave us a sickeningly sweet smile.

"Oh?" Edward said, sounding casual. Though I knew if I had been in his place, my voice surely would have cracked under Tanya's penetrating gaze.

"Yes," Emmett continued, positively beaming by this point. He glanced over to Tanya once more before turning back to eye Edward with curiosity. "We were just talking about how uncomfortable it gets when you're constantly reading everyone's mind."

Edward visibly tensed. His arm wrapped around my waist seemed to tighten around me, drawing me in as close as he possibly could. He fixed his stare on Emmett, refusing to look at Tanya. "I don't _try_ to read your mind," Edward responded in a slow, but steady voice. "It's not something I can just turn off."

Emmett's smile, if possible, grew even wider. "Oh, I understand," Emmett quickly added. "We were just – _discussing_ how things are different now that you can't pry into our minds."

Edward's normally golden eyes started to darken. I could tell that Emmett's playful comments weren't amusing to him in the slightest – they were almost doing the complete opposite.

"And how is it different?" Edward spoke through clenched teeth. His gaze darted over to meet Tanya's before it returned to Emmett's, glaring once more.

"Well – I could be planning what to buy you for your wedding gift _right now_ – and you would have no idea what it was."

Edward shook his head, trying to ignore Emmett's taunts.

"Or _maybe_," Emmett continued with a smirk, "I took the Vanquish out for a spin last night while you were at Bella's." He bit his lower lip as he tried as hard as he could not to laugh. "But you can't really yell at me for borrowing your car if you don't know I did it, can you?"

Edward took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. I could tell it was taking a great deal of restraint for him to not march across the room and throw Emmett straight through the wall.

"Ok, let's play twenty questions!" Emmett finally shouted, letting out a loud laugh that he had been bottling up for several minutes. His knees were bouncing up and down in excitement as he teased Edward. He scrunched up his face, appearing as if he were deep in thought. "I'm thinking of a person…"

"_Emmett_," Edward growled, his eyes blazing with fury as he broke out of his controlled state.

"Damn, you guessed it," Emmett muttered, frowning. "Even without your ability, you're good…"

"Emmett, I think that's enough," Alice muttered, watching Edward with a nervous gaze. Though once Edward's eyes left hers, I was sure I spotted the tiniest of smiles grace Alice's lips.

I pressed my hand onto Edward's chest, hoping to calm him down before he got too worked up.

"So," Tanya broke the silence. She narrowed her eyes at me. "Where were you two planning on going for your honeymoon?"

Edward's entire body relaxed at the change of subject. He looked down at me, allowing a smile to grace his lips.

"Well," he answered, "it's actually a surprise."

Tanya's eyebrows shot up into her hairline. "Bella doesn't get any say?"

"Well, it's a little easier to buy her things when she doesn't know what they are," Edward explained. His smile was growing larger the more he spoke.

Tanya frowned. She leaned back on the couch and crossed her long, flawless legs. Then she turned her laser-like stare on me. "You don't let him buy you things?" she confirmed.

My knees were practically shaking by this point. All she had asked was a simple yes or no question – and _I_ looked like I was about to _faint_!

"Um – no," I mumbled, pressing my entire body into Edward's side as I spoke. It was as if I was trying to hide myself from Tanya by burying myself deeper and deeper into Edward's chest. "I don't like it when he spends money on me," I told her. "It's not fair."

Tanya looked stunned by this response. She let out a high, musical laugh as she threw her head back and slapped her knee. "Well, why the hell _not_?" she asked in a voice loud enough to make me jump.

"Uh…" I slowed my hurried breaths as I glanced around the room. Edward remained motionless beside me as he stared unblinkingly back at Tanya. Jasper, by his rigid posture, was probably receiving several mixed emotions from the occupants of the room. Alice frowned, waiting for my response.

Emmett was the one that spoke up, however.

"If she doesn't like it when Edward buys her expensive things, then that's her choice," he stated with a low growl coating his voice. "You don't need to make her feel bad about it."

Tanya seemed surprised by Emmett's reaction. I know _I_ would have been shocked if I were in her spot. One minute, he was making fun of Edward with Tanya, and the next he was defending me _against_ Tanya.

"I was just trying to find out her reasons behind her statement," Tanya coolly replied. "Is there a crime against asking her a simple question?"

"No crime," Edward responded in a deadly calm tone. "I just think it would be nice if you spoke to my fiancée with a little more respect."

My stomach filled with butterflies at these words.

I stared at Tanya as her jaw slackened. I could practically read her mind. _She's just a human!_ I knew she would say. _She's not even pretty – how could you settle for _that_?_

But she didn't say any of those things. Instead, she looked down at her short skirt, smoothing it out absentmindedly. "Well, _I_ wouldn't have objected to you buying me anything…"

I took this as my cue to leave.

"Edward," I softly interrupted. His head spun around to look down at me. "I'm going to run downstairs to grab a glass of water."

Edward nodded. "I'll come with."

"Let's _all_ go downstairs," Tanya added, sending me a false smile as she made a move to stand.

"Uh – no, that's alright," I quickly told him, eyeing Tanya. I patted his arm that was wrapped firmly around my waist and he hesitantly dropped it. "You stay – get caught up with Tanya. It's been a while since you've seen her."

Edward turned to face me, looking somewhat confused, He gripped the tops of my arms with both hands. "You promised me you wouldn't leave my side," he whispered, though I knew the entire room could hear.

Alice interrupted, smoothly gliding toward us. "Just let her go grab something to drink," she told him. "Kate's still out – she won't be back for a few minutes."

Edward's grip loosened and I easily slid out of it. I kissed his jaw – the highest point I could reach on my tiptoes – and whispered, "Thanks," before practically running out of Alice's room.

By the time I was on the main floor, I nearly collapsed in exhaustion.

It was nothing but _painful_ to remain in Tanya's presence for more than ten minutes. The way she _looked_ at you was enough to make you feel like you were less than dirt. And if she ever spoke to you – it was like you were a little child again.

I took my time as I trudged into the kitchen to grab a small glass. I was in absolutely no rush to get back up to Alice's room. I was debating whether or not I should feign a sickness in order to give Edward and me an excuse to leave earlier than we had planned, but I knew Tanya wouldn't believe me.

My insides contracted as I thought of Edward. I felt horrible, making him stay upstairs with Tanya, but I knew it was the only way to get _away_ from her. It wasn't too hard to figure out that wherever Edward went, she would follow.

I sighed, holding my glass beneath the faucet at the kitchen sink. Maybe if I dropped the glass and it shattered on the floor, I could claim that I had a dizzy spell that caused me to lose the glass. After that, it wouldn't be too hard to convince them that I was feeling rather faint or weak. I mean – when was the last time _they've_ been sick? Not for several dozen years…

I held the glass to my lips, about to take a sip, when I noticed a blurred figure darting back and forth outside. I squinted through the window pane, trying to make out the figure, and soon realized that it was Kate.

I was torn in two. Edward wouldn't want me to approach her. He wouldn't even want me to be near her if _he_ was with me. He was terrified she might be too tempted by my blood. But she just looked so – so –

_Upset_.

Going against my better judgment, I approached the back door and slowly opened it. I stepped outside into the lightly drizzling rain and softly closed the door behind me.

"Kate?"

The blurred figure immediately stopped moving. I noticed she was still wearing her clothes from the night before.

"Oh," she whispered, staring at me with wide eyes. "I'm sorry – I had no idea you were there."

I shrugged, smiling. "You looked a little preoccupied. Like something's on your mind."

Kate let out a hollow laugh. "Yeah, there's something," she muttered.

I watched as Kate started to pace again, but it was a bit slower this time so I could follow her movements. She didn't seem bothered by my presence whatsoever.

"Um…" Kate slowed to a stop, watching me with curious eyes as I addressed her. "Did you want to talk about it?"

Kate smiled and I felt my entire mood lift, forgetting entirely about Tanya's presence upstairs. "No, I'm fine," she said. "Just – " She swallowed, trying to find some sort of excuse for her anxious behavior. Finally, she broke eye contact, shaking her head. "Um – Tanya," she muttered. "I guess – she bothers me sometimes."

I lifted an eyebrow, surprised by this answer. I knew why _I_ hated Tanya – but Kate was her _sister_! "Why?"

"She puts a lot of pressure on me," she confessed in a soft voice. "She just has these ridiculous ideas and – she can just get so irritating."

I looked away, thinking about this, and then glanced back up at Kate. "Then why are you still putting up with it?" I asked.

Kate looked as if she really had no excuse, shaking her head. Then she said, "Tanya was the one who saved me. After I was changed, I had completely lost all hope," she confessed, grimacing as she remembered her earliest memories. "I was terrified of what I had become – but Tanya helped me live a normal life, again," she concluded with a slight smile. "I can't abandon her…"

I nodded, trying to show Kate that I understood, but I couldn't find any excuse for Tanya's behavior.

I watched for a few more minutes as Kate once again started to walk back and forth from one end of the yard to the other. I wondered if maybe I should address the Tanya issue again to figure out what had happened between then, but then she stopped abruptly and spun to face me, as if she had suddenly remembered something.

"Bella," she said, watching me with a curious look.

I was surprised by her sudden comment. "Yes?"

"Do you remember – yesterday – when we were talking?"

Though I had tried as hard as I could to block out all memory of yesterday's events, I nodded. "Yeah, I remember."

She stepped closer, wringing her hands together nervously. It was the first time I had seen a vampire appear so nervous before. "And we were talking about your friend. Jacob Black."

"Jake!" I said, brightening. "Yeah, he's one of my good friends." I paused, frowning slightly. "Sort-of."

Kate didn't pay attention to what I had tagged onto the end of my sentence. "You said he told you that Edward was a vampire, didn't you?"

"Yeah." I nodded, elated to find that Kate was eager to know more about me. It made me feel _important_. "He's part of the Quileute tribe, so he heard about the treaty between his ancestors and the Cullen's. Of course," I added with a small smile as Kate walked closer, "he didn't know at the time that he told me that the Cullen's were _actually_ vampires. He thought it was all some myth."

Kate chuckled, causing me to grin.

"But he found out it was true?" she asked.

By this point, she and I were both standing directly in front of the other. She gestured to a stone bench beside the back door. I sat down beside her. "Yeah, he figured it out," I said. Then I glanced up into her curious expression. "He wasn't very happy when he realized that I had been dating a vampire this entire time and I didn't seem bothered by it."

Kate's expression fell.

"So – he hates vampires?" she asked with a frown.

I couldn't hide my laughter from her. "Well – _yeah_!" I exclaimed as if it were obvious. "I mean – he's a – "

"_Bella_!"

I spun on my chair, surprised to hear Edward's voice. But before I had managed to turn all the way around in my seat, Edward had run to my side and picked me up off of the bench, cradling me close to his chest, and started to growl at Kate.

"Calm _down_," I scolded him. "Kate and I were just talking!"

"Bella," he hissed, turning his glare on me. "I _told_ you what could happen if you left my side – don't you _remember_?"

I remembered our conversation clearly – he told me not to speak to Kate without him at my side. Which was absolutely _ridiculous_ since Kate didn't look like a threat at all!

But the moment our previous conversation replayed itself in my mind, I felt a wave of guilt wash over me. I groaned softly, burying my head into Edward's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. How could I have fallen into her trap – _again_? "She just looked so upset, Edward. I was only trying to help."

Edward's anger was gone as fast as it had appeared. "I know," he said. "You didn't mean to. It's not your fault."

If I had been alone, I probably would have smacked myself in the forehead for going and doing something so stupid. Again.

"Kate!" Tanya shrieked, throwing her hands up in the air. "You're back!"

Kate smiled weakly, acknowledging her sister's greeting.

"Why didn't you _tell_ me you were back?" Tanya asked, dropping her smile. "Edward asked Alice to check in on Bella and she had to tell us that she saw you and Bella talking in the backyard."

Kate shrugged, glancing over at me once before turning to look back up at Tanya. "I just got back a few minutes ago," she muttered, standing up from her bench.

"Well," Tanya said in a soft voice. She glanced over at Edward and me, then put her hand on Kate's shoulder and ushered her towards the trees. "Let's go for a walk, shall we? You can tell me how your hunting went last night…"

As Tanya and Kate walked further and further away, Edward cautiously set me back on the ground. He kissed my cheek and followed me back in the house, leaving no less than three inches of space between us as we walked.

Inside the kitchen, Emmett was leaning back against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest. Alice was sitting on the edge of the sink with Jasper standing upright beside her.

"I'm so sorry, Bella," Alice immediately apologized the moment we walked through the door. "We were all talking and I just – forgot to keep a close eye on you."

"Don't worry about it," I told her, accepting her apology without any hesitation. "We were just talking." Then I shrugged, thinking back to the conversation outside. "She didn't even look hungry."

Edward didn't seem to care about any of this information, however.

"Bella and I are going back to her house," he announced to the kitchen, placing a hand on my shoulder. "We will be there for the rest of the week and will _remain_ there until Tanya and Kate are out of this house."

My heart started to pick up speed, thrilled by this news. I hadn't even had to fake an illness to leave early!

"All week?" I repeated with a stunned expression. "You mean we don't even have to leave my room until the wedding?"

"Not unless you want to," Edward said with a smile on his face. He looked about as excited as I felt. Then he turned to the rest of his family. "If any of you want to drop by, you're free to visit – but we don't intend on seeing Tanya or Kate until the wedding."

Emmett scoffed, smirking. "Well, from the way Bella's blood is pumping, I doubt she'll _want_ us to grace you with our presence," he said, grinning as I blushed more than I had in months. "I'm thinking she has big plans for the two of you while you're locked in her room all day for an entire week…"

I looked over at Jasper, hoping he hadn't picked up on my excitement, but he was smiling at me, confirming my fears.

"Good," Edward said, sending me one of his adorable, crooked smiles. "We didn't want any surprise visits _anyway_."

And it was on that note that we hurried back to my truck, headed for home with a giddy expression on my face.

* * *

"What the _hell_ were you doing?"

I didn't flinch as Tanya immediately turned and growled at me. I had been expecting this outburst from her as soon as I knew we would be out of sight and out of hearing range from the Cullen house.

"I was just talking to her," I defended myself. "There's nothing wrong with being friendly."

Tanya made a face. "I don't give a _damn_ who you were talking to – I meant why didn't you find me the _instant_ you got back?"

"I hadn't even been back for _two minutes_!" I roared back at her.

Tanya looked as if she were about to shout at me once again, but she fought the temptation and instead stopped walking to turn and face me. "Well, what did you find?"

I took a moment, trying to figure out what I should say. But before I could say another word, Tanya leaned in to smell my scent.

She looked livid.

"Did you even _find_ the dogs?" she spat, "because I don't even _smell_ them on you!" She was baring her teeth. "Kate – I _told_ you I wouldn't deal with any of your screw-ups."

"_Relax_," I hissed, subconsciously taking a step away to put more distance between us. "I rented a hotel room for the week so I could use the shower to get their smell off of me." I gestured to my shirt. "I even snuck into the hotel's basement to wash my clothes."

To my surprise, Tanya's eyebrows shot up in delight. "_Really_," she muttered, mulling the idea over. "That's brilliant," she complimented me. "And you can tell everyone you're staying there to avoid Bella – when you're actually spying on the dogs – _genius_…"

I found myself smiling at this comment. It wasn't very often that Tanya approved of something that I did.

"So, what did you find out?" Tanya asked, rubbing her hands together in anticipation. "How many are there?" she asked. "Who's in charge?"

I shook my head and held my hands up, palm out, to stop her questioning. "Well, for starters – you were right," I told her. "Because of this whole – _niceness_ thing," I said, referring to my abnormal gift, "the wolves can't smell me. It's like they look right past it or something. They have no idea."

Tanya was grinning more than she had in over a century.

"The best part," I added, "is that it seems to work in reverse as well." I smiled. "I can smell them – but it's definitely not as strong as you described it. It doesn't bother me at all."

Tanya started to laugh. "I _told_ you it would work!" she nearly shrieked, grabbing onto the top of my arms and shaking them with her excitement. "Now tell me what happened last night when you met them!"

"I found _some_ of them," I told her. "I definitely found – _a_ werewolf – " I paused, unsure how to finish this sentence " – maybe two." I dropped my gaze to the ground, shaking my head. "I'm not sure."

Tanya's excited expression disappeared entirely. "What do you mean – you're not _sure_?" she hissed.

"I – I don't know," I stammered, losing the confidence I had held just moments before. "I don't really know that much about wolves to _start_ with – just that they're warmer than average and they have a horrible smell." I shrugged. "I'm just not positive if both of them were wolves."

Tanya sighed, irritated again. "Well did you find out anything else? Where they live? How long they've been around? Are they _experienced_?" Tanya caught on to my guilty expression. "_Anything_?"

"Sorry," I muttered. "Nothing else." I didn't want to tell her that I had been too afraid to stay around the wolves once that one wolf – _Jake_ – had surprised me.

Tanya looked positively livid, as if she were about to slap me. "You have less than a week," she hissed. "Get back out there and _find those dogs_," she growled. "Or I'll call in the Volturi if I need to."

I cringed, unable to even fathom the idea of working alongside the Volturi. "Alright," I whispered with a nod of my head.

We stood in the middle of the woods, silent and unmoving. For a moment, I wondered if Tanya had left without me realizing it. Slowly, I glanced back up, surprised to find Tanya still standing in front of me. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was glaring daggers.

When our gaze met, her eyes blazed with fury. "_Go_!"

I didn't hesitate. Before I could be yelled at any longer for doing the job incorrectly, I ran back to the soda machine where I had first met the wolves.

**Author's Note: There you have it! And now the next few chapters will be focused primarily on the wolves. (I just needed to get the informational stuff from Edward and Bella out of the way before I focused on the wolves!)**

**Hope you liked it!**

**Yours truly,  
Amelia Bedelia**


End file.
